Tag: Trump taxes

Democrats step up work to get Trump tax returns

© Getty Images, Hill photo illustration

A House panel is set to hold a much-anticipated hearing on Thursday that will put Democrats’ desire to get President Trump’s tax returns in the spotlight.

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee is holding a hearing about legislative proposals and tax law concerning presidential tax returns.

The hearing was called to discuss a portion of House Democrats’ big ethics bill, H.R. 1, that would require presidents, vice presidents and major-party nominees for those positions to release 10 years of tax returns.

View the complete February 6 article by Naomi Jagoda on The Hill website here.

Progressive groups push Democrats to full-court press for Trump’s taxes

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., has indicated that he won’t make a quick play for Trump’s tax returns. Credit: Tom Williams, CQ Roll Call file photo

New House Ways and Means chairman has indicated he will ‘lay out a case’ to obtain POTUS’ tax records

Progressive groups renewed their calls Thursday for the leading Democrat on the House committee with jurisdiction over taxes to “immediately” obtain Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the president refused to release during the 2016 campaign after initially promising to do so.

“As the newly appointed Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, it is your constitutional duty and responsibility to conduct effective oversight of President Donald Trump and his administration,” three leading progressive groups on the issue wrote in a letter to Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts.

The progressive coalition is composed of the Tax March, which organized rallies in 200 cities in April 2017 to demand that the president release his taxes, and anti-Trump groups Indivisible and Stand Up America.

View the complete January 24 article by Griffin Connolly on The Roll Call website here.

Ethics watchdog: GOP tax bill written to cut Trump’s taxes

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website November 2, 2017:

A government ethics watchdog argued Thursday morning that the newly released Republican tax bill was written to lower President Trump’s taxes.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit that aims to reduce the influence of money in politics and foster government accountability, cited the bill’s intention to repeal the alternative minimum tax.

“In 2005, the one year of Trump’s taxes we’ve seen, the Alternative Minimum Tax cost him an extra $31 million,” the organization, which is linked to Democratic operative David Brock, tweeted. “This bill was written for him.” Continue reading “Ethics watchdog: GOP tax bill written to cut Trump’s taxes”

Congress gives Trump a pass on releasing his tax returns

The following editorial by the Washington Post’s Editorial Board was posted on their website September 9, 2017:

Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo

IT’S UNDERSTANDABLE why Donald Trump has felt no compunction about refusing to release his tax returns. After all, he got elected president despite breaking his promise to release his IRS filings, thus thumbing his nose at a tradition that had been followed by every major-party candidate for four decades. Keeping the information under wraps also appears to be an effective way of stymieing questions about whether there are potential conflicts of interest posed by his private business empire. What doesn’t make sense is that Congress lets him get away with this, particularly since it soon will be debating an overhaul of tax policy. Shouldn’t elected representatives know how President Trump might benefit and what interests are really being served?

Unfortunately but predictably, an effort that would have forced release of Mr. Trump’s tax information was shut down last week by House Republicans. In a party-line vote Thursday, the House Ways and Means Committee rejected a resolution that would have directed the Treasury Department to turn over the tax returns of Mr. Trump and his many businesses. A law enacted in 1924 after the Teapot Dome scandal allows the Way and Means Committee, along with the Senate Committee on Finance and the Joint Committee on Taxation, to request tax information for review in a closed session with possible public disclosure. Continue reading “Congress gives Trump a pass on releasing his tax returns”

Trump retains assets worth at least $1.4 billion, new disclosure shows

The following article by Matea Gold, Drew Harwell and Rosalind S. Helderman was posted on the Washington Post website June 16, 2017:

President Trump reported on a new financial disclosure that his far-flung real estate and hotel assets are worth at least $1.4 billion, a stark illustration of the complex financial interests he has maintained in the White House.

The report, which the president voluntarily filed with the Office of Government Ethics, shows that he collected an influx of new revenue from recent foreign deals and a surge of business at his signature Mar-a-Lago property in Florida. Continue reading “Trump retains assets worth at least $1.4 billion, new disclosure shows”

The Tax March: Protesters around the country call on Trump to release his taxes

The following article by Perry Stein was posted on the Washington Post website April 15, 2017:

Some wore shirts with an image of President Trump as the Monopoly mascot hauling a bag of money. Others taunted the president with signs that said they would show him their taxes, if he showed them his. And in front of a few thousand people on the lawn of the U.S. Capitol there was an oversized inflatable chicken with hair resembling Trump’s, suggesting the president is “too chicken” to release his taxes to the public.

From Seattle to the District, protesters gathered in cities throughout the country Saturday calling on Trump to release his personal tax returns as part of a nationwide Tax March. The protest falls on the country’s traditionally recognized deadline to file taxes, April 15. Continue reading “The Tax March: Protesters around the country call on Trump to release his taxes”

These 23 Republicans Passed on a Chance to Get Trump’s Tax Returns

The following article by Conor Friedersdorf was posted on the Atlantic website February 15, 2017:

Congress has a duty to make sure President Trump isn’t selling out the United States. These legislators are in more active dereliction of that duty than most.

More than 800,000 Americans have signed a petition demanding the release of Donald Trump’s tax returns. Polls show that a majority of the country wants to see the documents.

On April 15, tens of thousands plan to take to the streets in protest of the president’s refusal to release his tax returns to the public. Some worry Trump is hiding financial ties to Russia. Others want to understand all the conflicts of interest that flow from his failure to divest from his business interests. Twenty thousand people say they’re going to a Los Angeles protest. Eleven thousand are signed up to attend in New York City. Folks will protest in Boise, Indianapolis, St. Louis, Raleigh, Pittsburgh, Knoxville, Salt Lake City, and other municipalities throughout the U.S. Continue reading “These 23 Republicans Passed on a Chance to Get Trump’s Tax Returns”