- Democrats are racing to release information about former President Donald Trump’s taxes before Republicans take control of Congress early next year
- Politico reported Friday that the House Ways and Means Committee will meet privately Tuesday at 3 p.m.
- They’re expected to review Trump’s tax documents and vote on whether some or all should be made public
Politico reported Friday that the House Ways and Means Committee will meet privately Tuesday at 3 p.m. to review the tax documents and vote on whether all or a portion of Trump’s tax returns will be publicly released.
After a lengthy legal battle, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard Neal got his hands on Trump’s tax returns in November, using a century-old law that allows the leaders of Congressional tax committees to see the tax returns of any American.
Beyond Neal, only a handful of lawmakers and aides have laid eyes on the returns, which Trump – breaking tradition – famously refused to release during his two runs for the White House.
He had no legal obligation to release them.
Now with a copy on Capitol Hill, Democrats allowed the committee’s ranking member, GOP Rep. Kevin Brady, access to the returns, but Politico reported that Democrats don’t believe Republicans will give them the same favor when the new Congress begins on January 3 with the House in GOP control.
The Democrats believe the law only truly applies to committee chairs and not ranking members, despite allowing Brady to see the returns.
That means they only have a number of weeks left to sort through the filings – which are from the years 2015 to 2020 – and decide if anything should be released publicly.
They consist of Trump’s personal returns and returns from eight business entities, Politico said.
Democrats believe they’re on solid legal footing to release the returns if the committee takes a vote.
Usually, it’s a felony to release personal tax information.
But under the tax code, the committee can put the information in a report for the House and those are made public.
Politically, however, the move could be dicey, as Trump has already announced his intentions to run for the White House again in 2024.
