AOC at the House Hearing: “Do you think we need to review his financial statements and his tax returns in order to compare them?”
Michael Cohen: “Yes, and you’d find them at the Trump Org.”
It’s happening folks!!
The best of our House Ways and Means committee members are currently busy at work, drawing up a request to the IRS to obtain the “president’s” tax returns. At least TEN YEARS of them. They are reportedly only a few weeks from submitting the request. They are also soliciting arguments from other House committees for additional reasons to obtain these returns.
It is worth noting, that Congress could have seen his tax returns as early as 2018, but Republicans had steadfastly refused to pursue them.
The first major stumbling block to this goal is likely to be Trump-appointed (and supremely venal) Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who is the person that will decide whether or not to release them to the committee. I think it’s safe to say his answer will be a firm and supercilious “NO!” Which means the next step is litigation in the courts.
But happily, since Trump has assumed power, the courts have been largely agreeable to………...justice. Perhaps if enough committee chairpersons are eloquent and persuasive enough in their pleas, we could see Trump’s returns by late Spring.
The IRS has already been sued to release them, and nothing has come of it thus far.
This was a hot issue in the 2018 election, and we WON.
House Democrats prepare case to request Trump tax returns
Democrats are crafting a request to send to the IRS and say they will "take all necessary steps" to obtain the president's returns.
March 1, 2019, 4:52 PM EST By Heidi Przybyla
WASHINGTON — The top tax-writing committee in the House is readying a request for years of President Donald Trump’s personal tax returns that is expected to land at the Internal Revenue Service as early as the next few weeks, according to congressional aides involved in the process. And Democrats are prepared to "take all necessary steps," including litigation, in order to obtain them.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has asked the committee’s attorneys to prepare the request, according to two aides involved in the process. Neal has also contacted the chairs of several other House investigative committees, including Oversight and Government Reform, Financial Services, Intelligence and Judiciary, asking them to provide detailed arguments for why they need the president’s tax returns to conduct their probes.
"Every day the American people and Congress learn more about President Trump’s improprieties, from conflicts of interest to influence peddling, potential tax evasion and violations of the Constitution — all roads leading back to President Trump’s finances,"
said Ashley Etienne, spokeswoman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
[...]
Ways and Means is the only House committee with the authority to directly make the request for Trump’s returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose department has authority over the IRS, will decide whether or not to grant the request.
Neal had earlier said he might wait for the conclusion of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia before making the request.
That’s called “Productive Congressional Hearings,” and apparently, only Democrats are able to achieve them.
Oh, and take a guess as to the last president before Trump to refuse to release his tax returns?
If you guessed Tricky-Dick Nixon, you’re a winner!
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, is leading the charge. I would imagine that if they are successful, there may be a public hearing on the subject, later. The committee has 25 Democrats and only 17 Republicans. One of those Dems is civil rights leader John lewis.
Michael Cohen’s February 27th public testimony strengthened our case for the request. He will return to the House Intel Committee for another round of closed-door testimony March 6th. That’s next Wednesday. Adam Schiff says that all of Michael’s testimony to House Intel will eventually be made public, though he presently could not give a date for this. Some of it is likely to be redacted. Hopefully we don’t have to wait 30 years for a FOIA request to learn everything.
By some accounts, Robert Mueller already is in possession of Trump’s returns.
But what might they tell us?
www.cbsnews.com/...
There's a lot you can learn from looking at a person's tax return. You can tell how much a taxpayer gave to charity; what their sources of income are; whether they're married or divorced. You can learn how much or how little they made, whether they moved for a job and (sometimes) whether they have children.
At least, you can learn these things from looking at the tax returns of an ordinary worker. When it comes to President Donald Trump and taxpayers at his rarified income level, a tax return can deliver plenty of personal information but still lack some of the most tantalizing stuff -- their total net worth, for instance, or what real estate they own.
"I think [President Trump] is worried about two things: One, the income is probably lower than his pride will be able to deal with, and I think the charitable deductions will be way lower [than he has claimed]. I think that's going to be an embarrassing number for him,"
said Mark Matthews, an attorney at tax law firm Caplin & Drysdale. (Matthews, like all the tax attorneys consulted for this article, made his assessment based on media reports about Mr. Trump's wealth and his own knowledge of the tax code.)
Mr. Trump reached alimony agreements with both of his ex-wives, which his tax returns could corroborate. They could also confirm or refute certain media reports, such as whether Mr. Trump ever made good on a reported threat to withhold alimony from Marla Maples, his second ex-wife.
The IRS requires people to report gifts anytime they give away cash or goods valued at more than $15,000, and report it on a completely separate form from the 1040. The gift tax return is obscure enough that it's only a concern for the wealthy.
The U.S. taxes income its citizens earn anywhere in the world, which means money earned abroad must be reported. Americans are also required to report foreign bank accounts to the Treasury.
His 1995 loss, in particular, was listed at $916 million -- "so huge that he could conceivably have used them to avoid paying any federal income taxes for nearly 20 years," CBS MoneyWatch previously reported.
"They're going to have to dig down into returns filed by LLCs, partnership returns. Almost none of that is copied on [Mr.] Trump's returns," Kaufman said. "I think there are going to be waves of requests to get into this."