At least you got something for your $$$. I'm paying $10,000 to have a new roof, rafters etc. on part of my house because of shoddy work done 5 years ago which is allowing the roof to leak. In addition I paid today $500.00 to replace a bad drive shaft sensor, new battery, wipers and inspection on my wife car which she hasn't driven in a year. Last week almost $1,000.00 to replace a front wheel bearing and front drive shaft in my 4x4 explorer. Thank goodness I've saved my money and can afford this. But I hope this is the end of the drain for awhile. Fortunately I was able to get us debt free before I retired so we are other than monthly bills and taxes we are pay as we go.

Do you use your RV much. I hope so. Get on the road and enjoy life. Mike

Sorry to read of your recent expenses, Mike. I don't feel bad about our refrigerator/freezer replacement expense now.

We use our bus, but not as much as before we retired out here in the country on Lake Whitney. Like you, we retired debt-free and with substantial retirement funds. We have a cross-country trip planned to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in September...with several other stops/visits before hitting the Atlantic coast. During the next few months, we will doing some camping around Central Texas with other RV-ers.

Hopefully, you've seen the end of your repair/maintenance expenses.

Well, chalk another one up for the Supreme Court, because that's where this is headed:

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/10/trump-tax-returns-congress-1342027

“The legal implications of this request could affect protections of all Americans against politically-motivated disclosures of personal tax information, regardless of which party is in power,” Mnuchin said. He is consulting with the Justice Department “to ensure that our response is fully consistent with the law and the Constitution.”

Maybe they can time it so it gets full exposure right before the next e******n.

Mmm-hmm.

November, 2018

Steve Rosenthal, Forbes. (I research and write on tax for the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.)

Incoming House Ways & Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) indicated that he will request President Trump’s tax returns soon after Democrats formally take control of the House in January. Trump already has said he will try to block their release. In this matter, Neal is right. He not only has the authority to see the president’s tax returns, such a step is appropriate and necessary, as part of our checks and balances. The Constitution calls upon the House, along with the Senate, both to enact legislation and to oversee whether those laws are faithfully executed. To fulfill its oversight responsibility, I believe the House should demand the President’s tax returns.

The House effectively delegates its oversight responsibilities to its committees which can issue subpoenas for documents or testimony from the executive branch. In the matter of tax returns, the law could not be more clear (see Code sec. 6103(f)): Upon written request by either the Chairman of either the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee, the Treasury Secretary “shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.” The Ways and Means Committee may share these tax returns and related information with the full House, assuming there is a legitimate purpose for doing so.

Congress gave itself the right to review any return or return information in 1924, in the aftermath of two controversies. One was the Teapot Dome scandal, where senior officials in the Harding Administration granted public oil field leases in exchange for bribes. The other involved allegations that Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon continued to own many business interests while serving in government. Some believed the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the precursor to the IRS, showed favoritism to the secretary and his businesses.

The parallels to President Trump are striking. Trump maintains a sprawling business empire, which he refuses to t***sfer to a blind trust. According to multiple published reports, the president, through his businesses, derives income from foreign governments and their lobbyists, which also may violate the Constitution’s prohibition against emoluments. The president reportedly intervened personally to block the FBI from moving its headquarters and thus opening up for commercial development a site just a few blocks from his downtown Washington hotel. The president reportedly paid little or no tax for many years, in part because of aggressive tax planning and, perhaps, tax evasion. And throughout his campaign and since his e******n, the President acknowledged that he has been under audit.

These multiple allegations raise legitimate questions about whether the president is running the government for his benefit or the public’s—or both. Is he profiting from his position? Is the public harmed? Is the IRS auditing the president’s returns appropriately—and without favoritism? Has the IRS proposed any adjustments—and has the president paid them?

To fulfill its oversight responsibility, Congress, through the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, should demand the president’s personal and business tax returns that were open for audit at the time he assumed office and the 2017 returns filed since his e******n. Neal also should request any audit records for these returns, the work papers of any audit, and any written determinations.

For nearly the past half-century, such congressional demands for p**********l tax returns have been unnecessary. In 1974, President Nixon voluntarily released his tax returns to quiet the public clamor over his reportedly low taxes. He also invited the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation to audit his tax returns after the IRS reportedly gave him a pass (and JCT determined he owed an additional $476,431 in back taxes and interest). In the years since, every President until Donald Trump voluntarily released his returns to the public and permitted them to be automatically audited by the IRS automatically audited by the IRS. As Nixon famously explained: “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.”

Nixon was right.

Once again, from the article to which you responded...

"Congress gave itself the right to review any return or return information in 1924, in the aftermath of two controversies. One was the Teapot Dome scandal, where senior officials in the Harding Administration granted public oil field leases in exchange for bribes. The other involved allegations that Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon continued to own many business interests while serving in government. Some believed the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the precursor to the IRS, showed favoritism to the secretary and his businesses."

And...

"The House effectively delegates its oversight responsibilities to its committees which can issue subpoenas for documents or testimony from the executive branch. In the matter of tax returns, the law could not be more clear (see Code sec. 6103(f)): Upon written request by either the Chairman of either the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee, the Treasury Secretary 'shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.' "

Once again, from the article to which you responded...

"Congress gave itself the right to review any return or return information in 1924, in the aftermath of two controversies. One was the Teapot Dome scandal, where senior officials in the Harding Administration granted public oil field leases in exchange for bribes. The other involved allegations that Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon continued to own many business interests while serving in government. Some believed the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the precursor to the IRS, showed favoritism to the secretary and his businesses."

And...

"The House effectively delegates its oversight responsibilities to its committees which can issue subpoenas for documents or testimony from the executive branch. In the matter of tax returns, the law could not be more clear (see Code sec. 6103(f)): Upon written request by either the Chairman of either the House Ways and Means Committee or the Senate Finance Committee, the Treasury Secretary 'shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request.' "

I know not of which you speak, ol' feller. However, I spoke to PoppaGringo a bit earlier, and he has given up on collecting your IOUs. Instead, he decided to t***sfer them to me.

Pay up