If House Flips, Powerful Democrat Will Demand Trump Tax Returns

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Another Democratic leader of the House of Representatives is anxiously awaiting his chance to become chairman of a powerful House committee. Of course for that to happen Democrats must take control of the House after November’s elections. But if it does, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts will become chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, and as a result will be in a position to demand to see a copy of all of President Donald Trump’s tax returns.

Rep. Neal in an interview with CNN said he still held out hope that Trump would turn over his tax returns voluntarily. But he also knows this is not likely to happen in real life. Which means that he knows he can look forward to what he called “a long drawn-out battle” to get access to the documents which the whole world is waiting to see.

“I think we would all be comfortable if this was done on a voluntary basis,” he said. “If they would resist the overture then I think you could probably see a long and grinding court case.”

Trump broke decades of precedent during the 2016 presidential campaign when he refused to make his tax returns public. All other presidential candidates for the past 50 years have released their returns.

Trump’s refusal to release his returns has long been a controversial position, and a great bone of contention among Democrats and independents. Many people believe it is important that the public see the returns so that Trump’s business connections with foreign governments can be brought to public light.

A report in The New York Times earlier this month inflamed the situation further when it stated that Trump had received hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth from his father, Fred Trump, a New York City real estate developer. The newspaper report described Fred Trump’s gifts to Donald and his sibling as being structured in such a way that they improperly avoided paying taxes on the wealth transfers.

After the Times story came out Trump and the White House Communications Office heavily criticized it. The president called it both “boring” and a “hit piece.”

Rep. Neal said it is not yet clear what strategy Democrats might use to try to obtain the Trump tax records. “Anticipate a long court case in the end,” he told CNN.

Neal also said that if he becomes chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee he will hold hearings on last year’s tax law passed by the Republican Congress which has been criticized for giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the super-rich and to large corporations.

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Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.