As Democrats target Trump’s tax returns, audit claims loom large
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Congressional Democrats exploring ways to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns may target the adequacy of the Internal Revenue Service audit that Trump often cites as his reason for not making the returns public, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Such a strategy, focused more on the IRS than on Trump, could help Democrats craft an iron-clad legal argument for what would likely follow from such a request – an unprecedented court battle over the tax records of a sitting president.
Targeting the audit would put the request for the returns squarely within the oversight authority of the House of Representatives’ tax committee, which oversees the IRS, and deflect Republican accusations of a fishing expedition by Democrats unfairly targeting the president, the sources said.
House tax committee Chairman Richard Neal, who has vowed to request Trump’s returns, said this week that the long-standing audit claim could be the basis on which the committee ultimately decides whether to go to court to obtain the returns.
The returns are expected to become an issue soon. A subcommittee of Neal’s panel on Thursday set a hearing for Feb. 7 on “presidential and vice-presidential tax returns.” A spokeswoman said the hearing would cover “H.R. 1,” a bill that would require presidential candidates to release their tax records for elections.
Another strategy for House Democrats might be to probe whether Trump profited from the Republican tax overhaul that he signed into law in 2017, or how his income could be affected by amendments to the tax code likely to come before the committee in months ahead.
No decisions have been made, and sources with knowledge of the discussions could not say how much weight House officials working on the issue might give to any proposal.