Almost Out of Options, House Dems Sue for Trump's Tax Returns in Federal Court
The House Democrats have launched a new attempt to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns by suing for them in federal court.
The House Ways and Means Committee — chaired by Democrat from Massachusets Richard Neal — filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service in a federal court in Washington D.C.
The committee asked the court to comply with Neal’s subpoenas and turn over the highly sought-after tax returns, The Hill reported.
In the complaint, the committee requested that the court declare that the Treasury and IRS have a legal obligation to fulfill the request of the committee and failing to do so is a direct violation of section 6103(f) of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Lawmakers argued that the administration is not releasing the documents in an attempt to “shield President Trump’s tax return information from congressional scrutiny.”
“In refusing to comply with the statute, Defendants have mounted an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight of Treasury, the IRS, and the tax laws on behalf of the American people,” the suit read, according to Politico.
Additionally, the Democrats argue in the lawsuit that they need the documents to validate the president’s claims of a year-long audit. They are seeking six years’ worth of Trump’s tax returns.
“The Committee has been unable to evaluate President Trump’s claims about the audit program or investigate its other concerns because the President has declined to follow the practice of every elected President since Richard Nixon of voluntarily disclosing their tax returns,” the lawsuit says.
In May, Trump, once again, claimed that he was still under audit.
“I won the 2016 Election partially based on no Tax Returns while I am under audit (which I still am), and the voters didn’t care. Now the Radical Left Democrats want to again relitigate this matter. Make it a part of the 2020 Election!” Trump tweeted.
I won the 2016 Election partially based on no Tax Returns while I am under audit (which I still am), and the voters didn’t care. Now the Radical Left Democrats want to again relitigate this matter. Make it a part of the 2020 Election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 11, 2019
While the president has sued for his tax returns not to be released, this is the first time the Democrats have tried to go to court to obtain the documents.
Neal originally tried to get the tax returns by officially making a request to the IRS in April citing section 6103(f) of the federal tax code that says the IRS “shall furnish” the tax returns upon receiving a request from the chairmen of Congress’s tax committees.
However, the following month, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected the request saying that the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose,” The Hill reported at the time.
As a result, Neal decided to go to the courts.
“Due to that noncompliance, the Committee is now pursuing this matter in the federal courts,” Neal said.
The president’s legal team is fully expected to fight this lawsuit.
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