Cicilline Introduces Resolution for Trump Return Disclosure

CICILLINE PRIVILEGED RESOLUTION

07.18.17

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the President shall immediately disclose his tax return information to the House of Representatives and the American people.

Whereas, according to the Tax History Project, every President since Gerald Ford has disclosed his tax return information to the public;

Whereas, the Chairmen of the Committee on Ways and Means, Joint Committee on Taxation, and the Committee on Finance have the authority to request the President’s tax returns under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986;

Whereas, pursuant to article I, section 7, clause 1 of the Constitution, often referred to as the Origination Clause, the House of Representatives has the sole authority to initiate legislation that raises revenue for the national Government, and the Committee on Ways and Means is considering a comprehensive reform of the tax code;

Whereas, President Donald J. Trump holds interests as the sole or principal owner in approximately 500 separate business entities, and the President’s tax plan proposes to cut the corporate tax from 35 percent to 15 percent, applicable to many of these entities;

Whereas, against the advice of ethics attorneys and the nonpartisan Office of Government Ethics, the President has refused to divest his ownership stake in his businesses, has instead placed his assets in a trust which is run by his adult children, and the President can withdraw profits from his trust at any time of his choosing from any of the companies he owns;

Whereas, the director of the Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, resigned on July 6, 2017 stating that “There isn’t much more I could accomplish at the Office of Government Ethics, given the current situation. O.G.E.’s recent experiences have made it clear that the ethics program needs to be strengthened;”

Whereas, according to media reports analyzing President Trump’s leaked 2005 tax return, had his own tax plan been in place, he would have paid an estimated 3.48 percent rate instead of a 24 percent rate, saving him $31.3 million in that year alone;

Whereas, without access to the President’s tax returns, the American people cannot determine how much he will personally benefit from proposed changes to the tax code or from policy decisions he makes, nor can the American people fully understand the financial interests and motivations of the President;

Whereas in June 2017, President Trump filed an updated financial disclosure with the Office of Government Ethics which showed that the President reported $37.2 million income from the Mar-a-Lago resort between January 2016 and April, 2017, where he hosted the president of China and from where he ordered missile strikes against Syria;

Whereas during the same time period President Trump reported $288 million in income from all his golf courses, including $19.7 million from his course in Bedminister, New Jersey;

Whereas over the weekend of July 14th, President Trump sent out eight tweets promoting the U.S. Women’s Open Golf Tournament which took place at his Bedminister club.

Whereas Mar-a-Lago doubled its new member fees to $200,000 immediately following the 2016 election and President Trump personally benefits from such new member fees.

Whereas, disclosure of the President’s tax returns would help those investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and assist them in better understanding the President’s financial ties to the Russian Federation, Russian businesses, and Russian individuals;

Whereas, in 2013, President Trump said “Well, I’ve done a lot of business with the Russians. They’re smart and they’re tough,” and President Trump’s son, Donald Trump, Jr., told a news outlet in 2008 that “Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets”;

Whereas, President Trump fired Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, who was overseeing an investigation into ties and any collusion between the Russian government and President Trump’s campaign;

Whereas, former Director Comey testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee that President Trump asked him to “let go” of an investigation into former National Security Advisor Michel Flynn’s business ties to Russia;

Whereas, President Trump stated on May 11, 2017 that he had decided that he was going to fire Comey because of “this Russia thing”;

Whereas at the G-20 Hamburg summit on July 7, 2017, President Trump took a more than two hour
closed-door meeting with President Vladimir Putin, after which he claimed that he “strongly pressed” President Putin on Russian interference in U.S. elections and that it is “time to move forward”;

Whereas, on June 9, 2016 then-candidate Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., then-Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump son-in-law and current White House adviser Jared Kushner met with a person described as “a Russian government attorney,” and a former Russian military intelligence officer who promised to offer incriminating information about Hillary Clinton which had been collected as part of a Russian government effort to assist President Trump in his campaign for President;

Whereas, the Committee on Ways and Means has in the past used the authority under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 in 2014 to make public the confidential tax information of 51 taxpayers;

Whereas, the Committee on Ways and Means has now voted three times along party lines to continue to conceal President Trump’s tax returns;

Whereas, the House of Representatives has now refused ten times to act on President Trump’s tax returns;

Whereas the Committee on the Judiciary has failed to conduct even basic oversight on the connections between the Russian government and the Trump campaign;

Whereas the Committee on the Judiciary has now voted twice along party lines to decline to request documents detailing the Trump administration’s ties with Russian officials;

Whereas, the House of Representatives undermines its dignity and the integrity of its proceedings by continuing the cover-up of President Trump’s tax returns:

Now, therefore, be it:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives shall —

1. Immediately request the tax return and return information of Donald J. Trump for tax years 2006 through 2015, as provided under section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as well as the tax return (and return information with respect to the President’s businesses) of each business entity disclosed by Donald J. Trump on his Office of Government Ethics Form 278e, specifically each corporation and each partnership (within the meaning of subchapter K of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) where he is listed as an officer, director, or equivalent, or exercises working control; and

2. Postpone consideration of tax reform legislation until the elected Representatives of the American people in this House have obtained President Trump’s tax returns and return information to ascertain how any changes to the tax code might financially benefit the President.