The House Ways & Means Committee has access to six years of former President Donald Trump’s taxes after years of back and forth. Now what?
There’s a lot of sensitivity and secrecy around these documents due to fears around disclosure violations
Don't expect to see, as one source joked, Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, R-Mass., carrying around a box labeled "Trump tax returns" around the Capitol complex for all to see.
It’s not even clear at this point where the documents are — they could be at the Internal Revenue Service's headquarters, for example, to offer added protection for staff and members given access to them. As one person who previously worked on the committee underscored to us: “staff are very, very careful not to risk re-disclosure violations.”
Have members even seen the returns?
Unclear. On Thursday evening, Neal couldn’t, or wouldn’t, comment on whether he’s seen them, joking at one point that he was gonna stick to his notes because the attorneys were all staring at him. “I have not even acknowledged that I have them or don’t have them,” he said Thursday night. He also threw cold water on the idea that a Wednesday meeting of the committee “would be a viewing” of the returns. “That was false,” Neal said. That said, hypothetically, if the committee went into an executive session, “you could consider that” members would see the returns.
Could the Ways and Means Committee release the returns?
Yes, but it’s complicated. A 1924 law says the House Ways and Means and the Senate Finance committees can request individuals’ tax records — and they’re required to treat that material confidentially. But the committee could also decide that disclosure is warranted and vote to put them out, according to Tax Notes.
So, will they vote to put the records out? “It’s too early to say,” Neal said, under real time advice from committee lawyers
Certainly some members of the committee, including Rep. Bill Pascrell today on MSNBC, made clear “I want them all released.”
But if the committee does want to release these records, they’ll have to do it quickly— while Democrats are still in the majority and in control of the committee. One attorney we spoke to said that, in his reading of the statute, Neal’s authorization for the returns ends when this Congress does. And given Neal loses the gavel in the next Congress, this request isn’t getting renewed by Republicans.
So, that’s it? It’s the next five weeks or bust?
Not necessarily. Though Neal said he hasn’t spoken to his Senate counterparts about it, it’s possible we could see Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issue the same 6103 request that Neal began for these same returns, at the start of the 118th Congress. The Senate Finance folks are being mum on all this right now but given the courts have already said that Congress should be able to access these returns, they’ll get to avoid the whole years-long legal battle and just pick up where the committee is leaving off if they go down this road.
Republicans, meanwhile, are watching closely
Not just how Democrats handle the material, but who has access to it and what legislative vehicle they use to make some or all of it public. In their view, the full public release of Trump’s tax returns without a specific legislative purpose not only sets a dangerous precedent, but could also be illegal. Unhappy with the Supreme Court decision that allowed the turnover of these records to Congress, GOP members contend that the Democratic pursuit was always for political purposes.
