While that is, indeed, his reason, the legal basis for withholding the tax returns is Congress can only get tax returns if there is a “valid legislative purpose” (e.g., to write or reform tax laws).
Historically, the tax returns obtained were “anonymized” and part of a larger group or industry to protect the privacy rights of the tax payers. It is my understanding that there has never been a request for a specific person’s tax returns.
While Trump should have made his returns public for many reasons, the request is on very shaky legal grounds and sets a terrible precedent.
They followed it up with “Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!” and then told them that they “fart in Joe’s general direction”.
Just make it a law for Presidents so dickheads can’t hide them. Fucking do it for Congress as well. With the amount of and potential for corruption we should be able to see them.
Levity aside I’m dead serious on this one. I might even email my congressman and senator (black hellichopper inbound).
You want to be one of the 600 most influential people on the planet? Pony up.
Make them public FOIA too. Redact social security numbers and names of dependents. Everything else should be fair game. You own an apartment building at 123 main street or 10,000 shares of Apple? That’s relevant info to how you’re legislating.
Could you imagine the Paul Ryan tax return? I’d love to see the before and after of “crush tax rates then immediately retire from politics for a high paying low effort corporate job.”
Do you remember how badly people shit themselves when Pols started asking Trump’s appointees about their religious leanings.
America clearly doesn’t actually want to know how these people will govern. That would be terrifying.
Yeah left them out on accident. They need to go first we can’t even kick them out.
I think it might have been Robin Williams who said politics should be like nascar. You have to wear your sponsors on your clothes.
I’m for term limits because we are apparently way too stupid to kick people out. Congress always has horrific approval ratings and we just elect the same people for some reason.
No, it isn’t, because precisely because Trump did not make his tax returns public.
Congress has a valid legislative purpose in acquiring them - to conduct due diligence in furtherance of its role of oversight of the executive branch - which would have unnecessary had Trump simply done the right and normal thing and provided visibility into his personal finances. He didn’t, but Congress still has a job to do, and once shown a facially valid reason for the request, the judiciary has no role in determining whether the request is “good” or “bad”. There’s nothing shaky about it.
As for setting a bad precedent - no, it doesn’t do that either. Every president in modern history has let Congress and the people know about their finances to rule out conflicts of interest, etc. This “precedent” will only be used again against future presidents who pull a Trump and try to neuter Congress’ and the public’s ability to hold an elected executive accountable. That ain’t a bad precedent.
If they passed a law that all presidents must provide tax returns to hold office. That would easily be constitutional. It couldn’t be retroactive, so Trump would be required by law to provide 2019 forward.
In fact, since the IRS hasn’t charged Trump with a crime he must have filed returns with them. So he has already provided his tax returns to the federal government. Just not the Star tribunal that’s out for blood and only asking in order to leak them and score political points.
Did he break a law by not turning over tax returns? Does Congress enforce norms now? Making a subpoena without even the potential for a law to have been broken is bad precedent.
I’m all for requiring presidents to turn over tax returns (as well as the other two branches). But damn it Congress, do your job and pass a law. They can judge shop and saber rattle all they want. Trump may even appeal it all the way to the SCOTUS. Which he’s entitled to as a citizen.
Congress could skip all that by passing a law. If it’s such a good idea it should easily get veto-proof majority votes.
No, he’s provided them to the IRS, not Congress. The “federal government” isn’t a monolith - other branches don’t have access to that information, hence the need to exercise a right undee statute.
Now the Treasury is in violation of the law - they refused to turn over the returns despite the plain language of the statute.
But more to the point - this ain’t criminal law. There’s no rule that says Congress needs some sort of probable cause before gathering information. In any event, even if there were, there is plenty of “smoke” to look at - Trump practically brags about what appears to be conflicts of interest and corruption (Saudi Arabia, etc.).
Congress has the broad right to investigate for lots of reasons - maybe to look at wrongdoing as part of its oversight responsibilities, maybe to craft new legislation.
They already did - one that specifically said Congress can request tax returns from Treasury and Treasury shall provide them. It’s a statute passed in the wake of scandals that involved high government officials.
(But I agree that we should pass a law requiring presidents to disclose tax returns.)
We are, but it’d help if you’d remind Secretary Mnuchin that we are. He doesn’t have any more right to withhold those tax returns from Congress than you do to drive on the left side of the road.
100%. There’d be wild theories about how he’s getting money from Iran or Kenyan socialists. But, I, too would be with you (and them) - this isn’t a partisan issue. We need accountability regardless of who is in office.
Re: his actual levels of wealth: I don’t either. If disclosure shows he’s much less wealthy than he actually is, Trumpkins won’t care.
But two important things might show up - one, the conflict of interest/corruption angle. But more likely I think is his tax returns may contradict certain disclosures he’s been required to make. He’s notorious for lying about his wealth while engaging in PR, but if he did it in writing on a government form, that could be a problem.
This could happen. But I doubt it. Much more likely corruption. While Trump isn’t a genius by any stretch. He does have that mobster’s knack for hiring the right lawyers and not blatantly getting caught.
For corruption, just the hotel he opened in DC should be cannon fodder enough. “Hey Mr. Lobbyist, want an audience with the most powerful man in the world? Where’d you host your latest DC conference? Where did you sleep last night?”
I agree - which is why most sane public figures take steps to avoid even the appearance of this kind of stuff, because if it doesn’t catch up with you in the courthouse, it’ll catch up with at election time.
And I really can’t understand why anyone would oppose these efforts to look into Trump’s finances. I would want this for my favorite president that I voted for and love. That’s because no matter who that person is, that person has immense power and influence, and that person - no matter how great we think they are - can be influenced, and it should be a matter of principle that the people guard against abuse of that power.
I remember when that skepticism of power was an article of faith among conservatives. It needs to be again.
