--- title: Donald Trump Shouldn't Release Tax Returns, Son Says description: Donald Trump's son says it would be Foolish for his father to release his tax returns canonical: https://time.com/4464694/eric-trump-donald-tax-returns/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-24T16:41:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:55:13.452Z article:section: Politics og:title: It Would Be 'Foolish' For Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns, Son Says og:description: Eric Trump says his father shouldn't release his tax returns og:url: https://time.com/4464694/eric-trump-donald-tax-returns/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b15b0948bd705b0/69889cef8e0601ef3b466c7e/ivanka-trump-eric-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-donald-trump-44.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Republican National Convention: Day Three og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: It Would Be 'Foolish' For Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns, Son Says twitter:description: Eric Trump says his father shouldn't release his tax returns twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b15b0948bd705b0/69889cef8e0601ef3b466c7e/ivanka-trump-eric-trump-rnc-republican-national-convention-donald-trump-44.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It Would Be 'Foolish' For Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns, Son Says ## Video: Warren Buffett Challenges Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns [Watch (HLS stream): Warren Buffett Challenges Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vdobB8oY.m3u8) (0:40)  _Published 2016-08-02. Billionaire investor and philanthropist Warren Buffett on Monday challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns, accusing him of hiding something from the public._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 24, 2016 4:41 PM UTC  Eric Trump along with his wife, Lara Yunaska, attend the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Eric Trump along with his wife, Lara Yunaska, attend the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Aug 24, 2016 4:41 PM UTC Donald Trump’s son said Wednesday that it [would be “foolish”](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/08/24/eric-trump-it-would-be-foolish-for-donald-trump-to-release-tax-returns/) for his father to release his tax returns. Eric Trump echoed his father during an appearance on CNBC, saying that the Republican presidential candidate can’t release his tax returns until the Internal Revenue Service [finishes an audit](http://time.com/4441399/donald-trump-tax-returns/), the Wall Street _Journal_ reports. “You would have a bunch of people who know nothing about taxes trying to look through and trying to come up with assumptions on things they know nothing about,” Trump said. “It would be foolish to do. I’m actually the biggest proponent of not doing it.” Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton [released her tax returns](http://time.com/4450445/clinton-releases-2015-tax-filing/) in early August, along with her running mate Tim Kaine. Mike Pence, Trump’s running mate, released a [financial disclosure report](http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/08/18/mike-pence-releases-financial-disclosure-report/) last week and said that he intends to release his tax returns, according to the _Journal_. Eric Trump, however, believes that Trump’s tax returns won’t show much. “You don’t learn that much from a tax return, in all fairness,” he told CNBC. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464694/eric-trump-donald-tax-returns/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464694/eric-trump-donald-tax-returns/"},"headline":"It Would Be 'Foolish' For Donald Trump to Release Tax Returns, Son Says","datePublished":"2016-08-24T16:41:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:55:13.452Z","description":"“It would be foolish to do. 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