Politics & Government

Activists are already planning their next march against Donald Trump — for Tax Day

By ELIZABETH KOH

ekoh@mcclatchy.com

January 24, 2017 09:06 AM

Women's marches pop up all over the U.S.

Unexpectedly large crowds of women and human rights activists took to the streets of Washington, D.C., Chicago, Charlotte and even smaller towns like Boise. Protesters around the country marched for women's and civil rights and were intended to se
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Unexpectedly large crowds of women and human rights activists took to the streets of Washington, D.C., Chicago, Charlotte and even smaller towns like Boise. Protesters around the country marched for women's and civil rights and were intended to se
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Nearly 500,000 people marched in the streets of Washington and millions more across the country as part of the Women’s March Saturday, to express solidarity with women’s rights and signal opposition to President Donald Trump. Now some of the activists that participated are hoping it can be done again — to pressure Trump to release his tax returns.

Trump became the first modern candidate to win the presidency without releasing his tax returns, despite decades of electoral tradition. On the campaign trail, Trump said he wanted to do so but was constrained from releasing the returns because he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has said Trump can release his taxes regardless of his audit status.

A leaked 1995 return published by the New York Times in October indicated that Trump could have avoided paying federal taxes, using tax deductions, for nearly two decades.

Activists on social media suggested that after last weekend’s protests that marchers should reconvene on April 15, when taxes are typically due, to pressure the new president into finally releasing his returns. (Because April 15 falls this year on a Saturday, taxes are actually due April 18.)

After the election, adviser Kellyanne Conway said on ABC that Trump would not release his tax returns at all: “People didn’t care,” she told the network. “They voted for him, and let me make this very clear: Most Americans are very focused on what their tax returns will look like while President Trump is in office, not what his look like.”

A day later, she appeared to revert to the campaign line, writing on Twitter that Trump’s audit meant the administration “will not release until that is completed.”

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