JCT Confirms It Requested Nixon Tax Info From IRS

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JUL 23 2019

Honorable Richard Neal
Committee on Ways and Means
1102 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Chairman Neal:

In response to your request of July 23, 2019, my colleagues and I have reviewed certain Joint Committee on Taxation's file materials relating to the report: Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation, Examination of President Nixon's Tax Returns for 1969 through 1972 (JCS-9-74), April 3, 1974 ("Joint Committee staff report”).¹ Based on this review, I can state that the Joint Committee staff sought and received, under its legal authority, confidential information directly from the Internal Revenue Service that was used in the analysis presented in the report.

I enclose two sets of documents in support of my conclusion. Selected pages from a public copy of the Joint Committee staff report comprise the first set of documents. President Nixon had made public his tax. returns for the years 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972, and certain other financial information. I have highlighted pertinent statements from the Joint Committee staff report indicating that the staff reviewed return information for tax years and taxpayers beyond that included in the publicly released material.

• On pages 3 and 4, the Joint Committee staff report states “[I]t was necessary to consider a limited number of items relating to prior years' returns.”

• On pages 10. 11, and 12, the Joint Committee staff report specifically refers to use of information from President Nixon's return for the year 1968 in reference to the staffs analysis of the charitable deduction claimed for the gift of certain pre-presidential papers.

• On pages 41 and 42. the Joint Committee staff report specifically refers to use of information from President Nixon's return for the year 1968 in reference to the staffs analysis of the charitable deduction claimed for the gift of certain pre-presidential papers.

• On page 113, the Joint Committee staff report states, “For example, on his 1968 return, the President deducted . . .”

• On page 118, footnote 13, the Joint Committee staff report states, “The staff has examined the President's tax returns and/or the accountant's work papers for the years 1964 through 1968 . . .”

• On page 155, the Joint Committee staff report refers to tax positions taken by Patricia Nixon Cox and her husband Edward Cox, suggesting that the staff had examined return information related to these individuals.

• On page 209, the Joint Committee staff report states, “The staff has examined Patricia [Nixon]'s tax returns and confirmed this information.”

The second set of documents is copies of certain Joint Committee staff correspondence. This material includes return information that is subject to the confidentiality restrictions of section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code and its attendant civil and criminal penalties for unauthorized disclosure. Briefly described the enclosures are:

• A letter dated December 13, 1973, from the Joint Committee's Chief of Staff, Laurence N. Woodworth to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Donald Alexander, and Commissioner's reply (without the enclosure provided by the Commissioner).

• A letter dated January 31, 1974, from the Joint Committee's Chief of Staff, Laurence N. Woodworth to the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Donald Alexander, and Commissioner's reply (without the enclosure provided by the Commissioner).

• A letter dated March 30, 1974 from the Joint Committee's Chief of Staff, Laurence N. Woodworth to Senator Carl Curtis, a member of the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation.

Sincerely,

Thomas A. Barthold

Enclosures