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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCongress has the power to obtain and release Trumps tax returns
Interesting. Would depend on a Repug controlled committee to do this. Hopeless!
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HonuaDee @HonuaDee 8h8 hours ago
What is Trump hiding? #releaseyourtaxes #TrumpPutin https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-has-the-power-to-obtain-and-release-trumps-tax-returns/2017/02/07/aa53254c-ea63-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html
@lotsofuss @HGTomato @Karimala1
Link to tweet
Congress has the power to obtain and release Trumps tax returns
The U.S. Capitol. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)
By George K. Yin February 7 at 8:06 AM
George K. Yin is a professor of law and taxation at the University of Virginia and a former chief of staff of the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.
Though our new president may not realize it, Congress has the power to obtain his tax returns and reveal them to the public without his consent, including returns under audit. As just urged by Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.), legislators seeking information on President Trumps possible conflicts of interest should immediately exercise this authority rather than wait for the passage of new veto-proof legislation a highly uncertain prospect that would have the same effect.
The ability of Congress to disclose confidential tax information was added to the law almost 100 years ago. Since the Civil War, when it began requiring taxpayers to submit private information to the government to comply with the tax laws, Congress has struggled to balance the privacy interests of taxpayers with the publics right to know. Eventually, Congress decided that tax information should remain confidential except in two situations. First, it authorized the president to determine whether any tax information could be disclosed. And, in 1924, it gave the same power to certain congressional committees.
Congresss right to reveal tax information independent of the presidents authority proved extremely important in 1973 and 1974, when President Richard Nixon became entangled in a controversy involving his claim of a sizable charitable deduction for giving his official papers to the National Archives. Nixon initially stonewalled the inquiries, including making his famous statement that I am not a crook. When the pressure increased, he contended correctly that the IRS had already audited the pertinent returns and not ordered any change.
But a leak subsequently revealed that Nixon, despite having income of more than $200,000, had paid about the same amount of tax as families with incomes under $10,000. Outrage at this revelation eventually led Nixon to seek review of his taxes from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which delegated the task to its respected nonpartisan staff. The staff ultimately found that Nixon owed almost $500,000 in additional taxes over four years roughly one-half of his net worth at the time. Because of the importance of the matter to the nation, the Joint Committee exercised its authority and voted 9-to-1 (three Republicans joined six Democrats) to release the staff report, including Nixons confidential tax return information, to the public...................................
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Congress has the power to obtain and release Trumps tax returns (Original Post)
riversedge
Feb 2017
OP
Fabulous!! So nobody should mind when they get LEAKED!!! C'mon some patriot(s)!!! NOW!!
ElementaryPenguin
Feb 2017
#1
ElementaryPenguin
(7,800 posts)1. Fabulous!! So nobody should mind when they get LEAKED!!! C'mon some patriot(s)!!! NOW!!
Before it gets harder to get rid of this wannabe dictator!!
Norbert9
(494 posts)2. Congress has the power to do a lot of things
I'm sure they will release his taxes right after they impeach him.