Bloomberg: ‘I can’t go to Turbo Tax’

Billionaire Mike Bloomberg pledged to release his tax returns “in a few weeks,” defending the delay because they are too complicated and he “can’t go to Turbo Tax.”

“It just takes us a long time,” Bloomberg responded when asked why he is keeping Democratic voters waiting in disclosing his tax records. “Unfortunately or fortunately, I make a lot of money and we do business all around the world and we are preparing it. The number of pages will probably be in the thousands of pages. I can’t go to Turbo Tax.”

Mayor Bloomberg says he "can't go to Turbo Tax" in response to a question about how long it's taking to release his tax returns, to which Sen. Klobuchar responds that "it is a major issue because the president… has been hiding behind his tax returns." https://t.co/BEaj9F8GMJ pic.twitter.com/9WtWoRtY8B

— CNBC Politics (@CNBCPolitics) February 20, 2020

He added that his tax returns would include his all the investments he made with the “biggest item” will detail “every single donation.”

“It tells everybody everything they need to know about every investment that I make and where the money goes,” Bloomberg said. “And the biggest item is all the money I give away. And we list that, every single donation I make. And you can get that from our foundation any time you want.

He claimed that he made his tax returns available every year during his tenure as mayor of New York. However, that statement isn’t entirely true. The billionaire mayor for 12 years refused to release his full tax returns, only showing selected media to his accountant office each year to view a highly redacted filing. Members of the media were prohibited from mechanically duplicating any parts of information shown and numbers were replaced by letters that defined a value, making it impossible to calculate the mayor’s true wealth. Bloomberg’s spokesman, Marc LaVorgna said a redacted version is shown to prevent his competitors from learning too much about Bloomberg’s business practice.

“I put up my tax return every year for 12 years in city hall. We will put out this one,” Bloomberg said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar immediately jumped in, citing that everyone on stage has released their tax returns and compared him to President Trump for hiding them.

I’m just looking at my husband in the front row that has to, like, do our taxes all the time. We probably could go to TurboTax,” Klobuchar replied. “When it comes to tax returns, everyone up here has released their tax returns, Mayor. I think and it is a major issue, because the president of the United States has been hiding behind his tax returns, even when courts order him to come forward with those tax returns.”

Bloomberg promised to release his tax returns “in a few weeks,” while adding he needed more time because he’s only been in the race for 10 weeks.

“We’ll releasing them. They’ll be out in a few weeks,” he said. “And that’s just as fast as I can do it. Remember, I only entered into this race 10 weeks ago. All of my associates here have been at this for a couple of years.”

Warren interjected and urged Bloomberg get his staff to “work overtime” to make his returns available.

“10 weeks ago, pay overtime, and get it done,” Warren interjected.

“I wish it were that simple,” Bloomberg responded.

20202020 Election2020 Presidential RaceDem DebateDemocratic DebateMike BloombergSen. Amy KlobucharTax ReturnTurbo Tax