Kevin Brady (R-TX) warns that releasing Trump’s tax returns could lead to the release of tax returns of Supreme Court Justices.
Trump drew frustration from Democrats by opting against releasing his tax returns upon entering office, breaking with decades of precedent for presidents.
Democrats in the years since have engaged in a prolonged legal battle seeking access to the documents, and Tuesday’s meeting could help close the book on the matter.
A U.S. House of Representatives committee voted on Tuesday to release partially redacted tax filings from former President Donald Trump and said tax authorities had failed to properly scrutinize his returns while he was in office.
The House Ways and Means Committee voted to release a summary of Trump’s tax returns between 2015 and 2021, the years when he was running for president and serving in the White House, panel members said.
But the committee also said the U.S. Internal Revenue Service did not follow its own rules when it failed to audit Trump’s tax returns during three of his four years in office. Members said Congress should pass a law to strengthen the presidential audit program.
“What people will likely be surprised about is the extent to which the IRS was not conforming to their own rules,” Democratic Representative Dan Kildee told reporters.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Committee chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, said a redacted summary of Trump’s tax returns would be released within days. Democrats have little time to act, as Republicans are due to take control of the House in January.
It was not clear whether the material would shed light on potential conflicts between Trump’s real-estate holdings and his actions as president, or how much tax he paid on the hundreds of millions of dollars his businesses earned while he was president. Lawmakers said the returns were scant on details.
“I think you’ll be surprised by how little there is,” Democratic Representative Lloyd Doggett told CNN.
Kevin Brady, the panel’s top Republican, told reporters that some of those returns were still being audited, so it was not clear how much tax Trump owed. Like other committee Republicans, he voted against their release on the grounds that it could set a bad precedent.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), standing with more than a dozen of his colleagues at a press conference Tuesday, said that if Democrats publicize Trump’s taxes, they will “jeopardize the right of every American to be protected from political targeting by Congress.”
But Brady, the top Republican on the House committee that obtained Trump’s tax information, declined to say that those in his party would not also take advantage of tax disclosure laws to obtain and release private tax information.
“We’re not going to speculate on what our actions will be,” Brady said in response to a reporter’s question. “What we know for certain is the Democrats [are] unleashing a dangerous new weapon that’s going to have severe consequences.”
In fact, Democrats aren’t exactly doing that. Since 1924, certain congressional committees have had the same power as the president to ask the Treasury Department for anybody’s tax returns. Both Republicans and Democrats have used that authority in recent years.
Republicans in 2014 wielded the same disclosure powers that Democrats are using now as part of an investigation into the IRS allegedly mistreating conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. The Republicans wound up publishing private tax information related to some of the organizations as an attachment to a letter urging the Justice Department to prosecute an IRS official.
In 2019, Democrats asked for six years of Trump’s tax returns under Section 6103 of the tax code. Trump had been the first presidential nominee in decades to refuse to voluntarily release his returns for the sake of transparency with voters about his income.
The Trump administration refused to comply with the demand, prompting Democrats to sue in federal court. The case was only resolved last month when the Supreme Court declined to get involved, paving the way for the returns to be handed over.
On Tuesday, Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) — who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee — called for a special closed committee meeting where lawmakers could privately discuss the material they obtained, as well as hold a vote on making the information public. The hearing was still ongoing at press time.
Before the meeting, Brady, who is retiring from Congress and won’t chair Ways and Means when Republicans take control of the House next month, declined to say if he thought tax disclosure laws should change. He praised the reforms made in 1976, which prohibited the president from disclosing private tax information but preserved Congress’ ability to do so. The law imposes fines and prison time on any unauthorized tax disclosures.
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