The Battle for Trump's Taxes is Just Beginning

Hunter DeRensis

Donald Trump, United States

As Tax Day approaches, most Americans are busy trying to keep their money from the IRS. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is busy trying to keep his tax returns from Congress.

As Tax Day approaches, most Americans are busy trying to keep their money from the IRS. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump is busy trying to keep his tax returns from Congress. In what is probably a much tougher tug-of-rope than House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal (D-MA) initially expected, the Trump administration is pulling out all the stops to prevent the House’s request for the president’s personal and business tax returns.

Chairman Neal’s Wednesday deadline for the tax returns came and went due to the personal intervention of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, fresh from his viral confrontation with House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA). “The Committee’s request raises serious issues concerning the constitutional scope of Congressional investigative authority, the legitimacy of the asserted legislative purpose, and the constitutional rights of American citizens. The legal implications of this request could affect protections for all Americans against politically-motivated disclosures of personal tax information, regardless of which party is in power…For the same reasons, I intend to supervise the Department’s review of the Committee’s request to ensure that taxpayer protections and applicable laws are scrupulously observed, consistent with my statutory responsibilities,” wrote Secretary Mnuchin to Chairman Neal.

Chairman Neal has invoked Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, which reads in part, “Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives…the [Treasury] Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session unless such taxpayer otherwise consents in writing to such disclosure.”