The US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax laws and oversees the nation's tax laws, has filed a lawsuit to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, legal documents disclosed on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd July, 2019) The US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax laws and oversees the nation's tax laws, has filed a lawsuit to obtain President Donald Trump's tax returns, legal documents disclosed on Tuesday.The lawsuit filed in US District Court in Washington, DC Names the Department of the Treasury, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the IRS and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig as defendants.
"Defendants have now - for what the Committee believes is the first time ever - denied a Section 6103(f) request in order to shield President Trump's tax return information from Congressional scrutiny," the lawsuit said.
The court filing also accuses the defendants of mounting an "extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight of Treasury, the IRS [Internal Revenue Service] and the tax laws."
Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon in the early 1970s who has not voluntarily released his tax records.
The Democrat-led committee's lawsuit seeks to enforce a congressional subpoena for six years of Trump's personal and business tax returns, noting that Mnuchin has refused by arguing that the committee subpoena has "no legislative purpose."
The lawsuit responds by laying out a possible reason for the committee's probe: "The Committee is investigating the IRS's administration of various tax laws and policies relating to Presidential tax returns and tax law compliance by President Trump, including whether the IRS's self-imposed policy of annually auditing the returns of sitting presidents is working properly, even though it has not been updated in decades."
The lawsuits also cites Trump complaints that that the IRS policy of annually auditing presidential returns is "extremely unfair," adding that Trump has publicly speculated that he is subject to IRS audits because of his Christian faith.
In addition, the lawsuit says that Section 6103-f of the US tax law gives the Ways and Means Committee access to any individual's tax returns without requiring a reason.
