The Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday for six years of President Donald Trump’s personal tax returns and those of his businesses.
In a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig, Massachusetts Rep. Richard Neal said that he wanted to investigate whether the IRS is following its policy of auditing all sitting presidents and vice-president’s tax returns.
“Little is known about the effectiveness of this program. On behalf of the American people, the Ways and Means Committee must determine if that policy is being followed, and, if so, whether these audits are conducted fully and appropriately,” wrote Neal, who is seeking records for between 2013 and 2018.
In his letter, Neal insisted that he is not seeking Trump’s taxes for political reasons.
“This request is about policy, not politics; my preparations were made on my own track and timeline, entirely independent of other activities in Congress and the Administration,” he said.
“My actions reflect an abiding reverence for our democracy and our institutions, and are in no way based on emotion of the moment or partisanship.”
Trump has long resisted calls to releases his taxes, claiming that he is unable to release the documents because he is under audit. He repeated that claim on Wednesday in response to Neal’s letter.
“We are under audit, despite what people said, and working that out,” said Trump. “I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited. But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do it.”
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Yea right!!! There is not a law saying the President has to turn over his tax forms over to anyone. It is strictly voluntary for a President of the US to fork over a copy of his taxes. The Democrats have tried to get Pres. Trump’s taxes for years. They just want to know all the info about the President and to try to spend another 2 years investigating him for a reason to try to throw him out of the White House again. If you Dem. want to know if the IRS is doing their job, use all the tax forms of those Democrats in the House of Rep. The President has a law firm that fills out his taxes and I am more than sure that they follow the tax laws to a tee. Bet the IRS has gone over his taxes with a fine-toothed comb already.
Find another excuse than seeing if the IRS is doing their job, you just want to see his income, trying to find something illegal on him, etc.!!! The Democrats are complete idiots and liars. I will never trust them.
I never dreamed I would witness the heights of rabid, frothing, slavering political malice now being demonstrated by the Democrats in Congress. They have abandoned wholesale their sworn duty to serve the people, jettisoning it for their pathological obsession with destroying a presidency.
Congressman Richard Neal is a criminal. Clarification to follow.
There is absolutely no law anywhere in the American lawbooks that says a presidential candidate or sitting president is obligated to release his tax returns for public scrutiny. None. The thing doesn’t exist.
Think about that.
Richard Neal in his capacity as House Ways and Means Committee chairman is one of only three U.S. representative empowered to requisition an American citizen’s tax returns from the IRS. The presumption behind that extremely rare privilege is that such a request would issue from compelling evidence of wrongdoing against the national interest. It’s NOT a law-enforcement power, even though Rep. Neal demagogically pretends to use it as such…to enforce a law that doesn’t exist…by claiming it’s all “oversight”….
Think about that.
Remember, if we cheat on our taxes, the IRS is already quite well equipped to come after any of us…including Donald Trump…with no “help” (read, political grandstanding) from U.S. congressmen.
Donald Trump isn’t facing any charges by the IRS, he’s under no more legal obligation than you or me to air his tax returns to the whole world, and Neal is exploiting his congressional powers to do what you and I would consider criminal if it were done to us. To violate ANYONE’S legally defined freedoms and privacy for the sake of a rabid witch-hunt—all the more rabid for its fresh frustration by the Mueller report—is to descend into rank, raw lawlessness, aka criminality.
Neal is, hence, a criminal.
PS ALL tax returns are “hidden.” Mine are. So are yours.