CNN)Democrats are making presidential tax returns a focal point in one of their first pieces of legislation, an effort to build the case to the American people that time is up on President Donald Trump keeping his own tax returns from the public, shutting what could be a window into his personal wealth.
According to two sources familiar with the discussions, Democrats will include a provision in their new bill that would require presidential nominees to disclose 10 years of tax returns shortly after they become the nominee. Vice presidents would also be required to disclose a decade of returns. The tax returns would then be posted on the Federal Election Commission's website for public viewing.
The 10-year requirement is new marker. At the end of last year, Democrats had disclosed H.R. 1 would require presidential candidates to release just three years of tax returns, but a source familiar with the process said that after reviewing precedent, the marker was moved to a decade of returns.
While nobody has any expectation that such a bill could pass the Senate in its current makeup, the onus will be on Republicans to argue against the rationale for such a bill. Their argument for why Trump shouldn't release their tax returns, "It's none of your business," wasn't especially compelling when it was first made in 2016. However, in light of the President's insistence on repeating Russian propaganda, taking the side of Putin over our own intelligence community, and the revelation that he lied throughout 2016 about his Moscow Tower deal all the while denying he had any business dealings with Russia, revealing a candidate's tax returns demonstrates the importance of showing the American people that he isn't financially compromised in any way that would lead to him act in the best interests of a foreign government (as just one example).
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/trump-tax-returns-democrats/index.html
They'll also be going for Trump's tax returns specifically, via one of the committees.While nobody has any expectation that such a bill could pass the Senate in its current makeup, the onus will be on Republicans to argue against the rationale for such a bill. Their argument for why Trump shouldn't release their tax returns, "It's none of your business," wasn't especially compelling when it was first made in 2016. However, in light of the President's insistence on repeating Russian propaganda, taking the side of Putin over our own intelligence community, and the revelation that he lied throughout 2016 about his Moscow Tower deal all the while denying he had any business dealings with Russia, revealing a candidate's tax returns demonstrates the importance of showing the American people that he isn't financially compromised in any way that would lead to him act in the best interests of a foreign government (as just one example).
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/trump-tax-returns-democrats/index.html
They'll also be going for Trump's tax returns specifically, via one of the committees.
Yep, that's definitely happening. More civics/legal lessons we'll all be learning in the coming months: what are the tools that Trump can deploy in order to fight the House's attempts to subpoena his returns? I guess we'll all find out as it unfolds.
While nobody has any expectation that such a bill could pass the Senate in its current makeup, the onus will be on Republicans to argue against the rationale for such a bill. Their argument for why Trump shouldn't release their tax returns, "It's none of your business," wasn't especially compelling when it was first made in 2016. However, in light of the President's insistence on repeating Russian propaganda, taking the side of Putin over our own intelligence community, and the revelation that he lied throughout 2016 about his Moscow Tower deal all the while denying he had any business dealings with Russia, revealing a candidate's tax returns demonstrates the importance of showing the American people that he isn't financially compromised in any way that would lead to him act in the best interests of a foreign government (as just one example).
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/trump-tax-returns-democrats/index.html
The bill should also cover anyone running for Congress disclose their tax returns, because it does not I would vote No if given the opportunity
Did Republicans ever try using extortion to get Obama's transcripts?
He can simply refuse to honor the subpoena. And that will be pretty effective. It's an extremely long and arduous process for the House to enforce a subpoena. It can take years. For this reason, I suspect Trump and his administrative cabal will simply lawyer-up and refuse to cooperate with most everything the Dems request. Then, just like impeachment, it will all come down to politics.Yep, that's definitely happening. More civics/legal lessons we'll all be learning in the coming months: what are the tools that Trump can deploy in order to fight the House's attempts to subpoena his returns?
I'm pretty sure they'll have to amend the Constitution to do that. I mean, they could probably pass the bill but I don't see how it is possibly Constitutional.
In this case getting nothing done, is not such a bad thing. The Dems were swept into office specifically to stop Trump. The first act in turning around a problem force, is to stop it. 2020 can then be the opportunity to move it and turn it around.Good. Another distraction to frustrate Rump and push his buttons. Then he can dig his own hole deeper and deeper heading into 2020.
Let's face it, little will get done this next 2 yrs, unless Rump ****s up national security so much with his foreign policy that we see terror attacks here (which I dont dismiss), so Dems might as well spend their time making sure he has no chance of re-election.
After all, Republicans cant complain, they intentionally prevented Obama from doing anything. Maybe after this, Americans will learn to play together more effectively.
He can simply refuse to honor the subpoena. And that will be pretty effective. It's an extremely long and arduous process for the House to enforce a subpoena. It can take years. For this reason, I suspect Trump and his administrative cabal will simply lawyer-up and refuse to cooperate with most everything the Dems request. Then, just like impeachment, it will all come down to politics.
While nobody has any expectation that such a bill could pass the Senate in its current makeup, the onus will be on Republicans to argue against the rationale for such a bill. Their argument for why Trump shouldn't release their tax returns, "It's none of your business," wasn't especially compelling when it was first made in 2016. However, in light of the President's insistence on repeating Russian propaganda, taking the side of Putin over our own intelligence community, and the revelation that he lied throughout 2016 about his Moscow Tower deal all the while denying he had any business dealings with Russia, revealing a candidate's tax returns demonstrates the importance of showing the American people that he isn't financially compromised in any way that would lead to him act in the best interests of a foreign government (as just one example).
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/trump-tax-returns-democrats/index.html
I wonder if Congress would be willing to include themselves in this law.
Yes, that's the path for getting Trump's returns specifically. Thank you for providing it.No. Npr describes how we can expect to see the coming fight:
1. For the party in control of the House or Senate, making the request is easy. It would come from the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (the House panel that writes tax law), Senate Finance Committee or Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats have been badgering the Republican chairs of those panels to act since February 2017 without success.
2. Once a request is made, no floor action is necessary. The request would go to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS — not to the taxpayer in the Oval Office, who would officially be out of the loop. Yin said the 1924 law "gave the tax committees the unqualified right to request the tax returns of any taxpayer."
3. What would happen next is uncharted territory. Based on recent events, Trump might deploy Justice Department lawyers, and perhaps private lawyers, to fight the request in court. The process might resemble the not-infrequent legal battles over congressional subpoenas for executive branch documents. But the committee access provision has never been before a federal judge.
4. Were Congress to get access to Trump's returns, it would be easy for lawmakers to disclose the information, despite various privacy protections that exist for taxpayers. The chair or committee with Trump's tax returns could submit them to the full House or Senate if there's a legitimate legislative purpose. At that point, the returns would very likely quickly become available for the public to see on the Internet.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/11/6566...-demand-and-get-trumps-tax-returns-here-s-how
No. Npr describes how we can expect to see the coming fight:
1. For the party in control of the House or Senate, making the request is easy. It would come from the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee (the House panel that writes tax law), Senate Finance Committee or Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats have been badgering the Republican chairs of those panels to act since February 2017 without success.
2. Once a request is made, no floor action is necessary. The request would go to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who oversees the IRS — not to the taxpayer in the Oval Office, who would officially be out of the loop. Yin said the 1924 law "gave the tax committees the unqualified right to request the tax returns of any taxpayer."
3. What would happen next is uncharted territory. Based on recent events, Trump might deploy Justice Department lawyers, and perhaps private lawyers, to fight the request in court. The process might resemble the not-infrequent legal battles over congressional subpoenas for executive branch documents. But the committee access provision has never been before a federal judge.
4. Were Congress to get access to Trump's returns, it would be easy for lawmakers to disclose the information, despite various privacy protections that exist for taxpayers. The chair or committee with Trump's tax returns could submit them to the full House or Senate if there's a legitimate legislative purpose. At that point, the returns would very likely quickly become available for the public to see on the Internet.
https://www.npr.org/2018/10/11/6566...-demand-and-get-trumps-tax-returns-here-s-how
In this case getting nothing done, is not such a bad thing. The Dems were swept into office specifically to stop Trump. The first act in turning around a problem force, is to stop it. 2020 can then be the opportunity to move it and turn it around.
Perhaps. But I do expect Trump to refuse, both en total and writ large.I think that the case would arrive before a judge sooner than that, and it would be resolved perhaps within the first half of the year...maybe sooner. A lot of it would depend on how aggressively the House would want to move on this.
Considering that there are serious concerns that Trump is specifically acting in the best interests of a foreign government, the more aggressively the House moves the better.
While nobody has any expectation that such a bill could pass the Senate in its current makeup, the onus will be on Republicans to argue against the rationale for such a bill. Their argument for why Trump shouldn't release their tax returns, "It's none of your business," wasn't especially compelling when it was first made in 2016. However, in light of the President's insistence on repeating Russian propaganda, taking the side of Putin over our own intelligence community, and the revelation that he lied throughout 2016 about his Moscow Tower deal all the while denying he had any business dealings with Russia, revealing a candidate's tax returns demonstrates the importance of showing the American people that he isn't financially compromised in any way that would lead to him act in the best interests of a foreign government (as just one example).
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/02/politics/trump-tax-returns-democrats/index.html
Typically, laws are made in order to respond to things that are problems rather than things that aren't, just as the body's immune system will create an immunity to a flu it has encountered rather than a flu that it hasn't. While I have no problems with the principle of Congressional candidates being required to show their tax returns, it is the particular case of a President appearing to be beholden to foreign governments that has prompted the House's upcoming bill.
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