President Donald Trump's refusal to release his personal income taxes "really does make him look as if there's something that he is hiding," veteran political commentator Michael Reagan told Newsmax TV.
And the son of Ronald Reagan believes the 45th commander-in-chief must do so or he will be dogged by doubts throughout his presidency and find it next to impossible to achieve his promise of passing tax reform.
"He really needs to get this behind him and move forward; it really does make him look as if there's something that he is hiding," Reagan told host Bill Tucker on Tuesday's "America Talks Live."
"Remember, we out here in the public sector, we deal in perceptions. He may deal in reality, but we deal in perceptions out here. And what is the perception of him not giving his tax returns to the American people as he moves forward?
"As long as the perception is negative, it's not going to bode well for him to get tax reform for the rest of us."
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Trump has refused to bare his tax returns, claiming he cannot as they are under a routine audit by the Internal Revenue Service. But the IRS says an audit does not prevent anybody from making a return public. Some anti-Trump forces believe Trump might be hiding business ties to Russia.
Last year, The New York Times obtained one of the billionaire developer's returns which showed he lost $916 million in 1995, allowing not to have to pay taxes on $50 million a year for 18 years.
"If he wants to get tax reform, he's going to have to find the power of yes, because I do not believe that the Congress will come together for tax reform until he does release his taxes," Reagan said.
"They're going to hold that against him and they're going to use that . . . to get him to finally release his taxes. It doesn't have to be now, but at some point in the future, to get what he wants, he's going to have to."
Reagan, a Newsmax contributor, is the author of "Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength, Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan," written with Jim Denney and published by Humanix Books, a division of Newsmax Media.
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