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Democrats Offer New Allegations in Bid for Trump Tax Returns

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Posted on Aug. 21, 2019

House Democrats want a federal judge to bypass a trial and compel the Treasury Department to part with President Trump’s tax returns, saying credible allegations against the IRS’s presidential audit program have surfaced.

In an August 20 filing with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, lawyers for House Ways and Means Democrats asked Judge Trevor McFadden to grant a motion for summary judgment. House lawyers said in the filing that there is no genuine dispute as to the facts of the case and that they are entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.

“The Committee’s constitutional authority to subpoena the requested information entitles it to declaratory and injunctive relief to enforce its validly issued subpoenas,” the filing said.

The filing further revealed that the Ways and Means Committee received “credible allegations” on July 29 from a federal employee that there were inappropriate efforts to influence the IRS's program that conducts a mandatory audit of the president's tax returns. 

Ways and Means Committee Chair Richard E. Neal, D-Mass., asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for more information on the issue and was told to direct his concerns to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The communication between Neal and Mnuchin was included in a list of exhibits that also pointed to several newspaper clippings from the Nixon era intended to highlight the importance of overseeing the audits of the president’s tax returns.

The House sued the Treasury Department in July to enforce a subpoena asking the IRS for Trump’s 2013-2018 tax returns. The Treasury Department has so far resisted, arguing that Congress lacks a legitimate legislative purpose to review the returns and calling the move “unprecedented.”

Democrats See Clear Precedent

But Democrats rejected that assertion, saying in the filing that there is clear precedent because the Joint Committee on Taxation used its authority in 1973 and 1974 to request the returns of former President Richard Nixon, as well as select tax information of Nixon’s family members.

“Far from the Committee’s use of Section 6103 being novel, it is the Secretary’s refusal to comply that is unprecedented,” the filing said. 

The House Ways and Means Committee recently held a closed-door meeting to brief lawmakers on the taxwriting committee’s previous use of [section] 6103 to request Nixon’s returns. The filing said the briefing “reinforced the Committee’s need to review the actual return information as part” of its oversight duties.

Accompanying the summary judgment motion was also a motion to expedite consideration of the case. The plaintiffs told the court there is good cause for ensuring a prompt resolution to the case and that the administration’s stance is impeding the committee’s ability to carry out its constitutional functions.

“Time is of the essence in rectifying Defendants’ refusal to comply with the Committee’s requests,” the filing said. Democrats further argued that a new Congress beginning on January 3, 2021, would have to restart the clock if the court doesn’t rule on the matter promptly.

The plaintiffs also asked the court to hold briefings concurrently for the Treasury Department and Trump, who intervened in the case through his personal attorney, William Consovoy.

Treasury, Trump Reply

But the request for an expedited summary judgement was quickly opposed by lawyers for the Treasury Department and Trump, who told the court in their own filing August 20 that they should be able to file their motion to dismiss before the court rules on anything. The defendants argued that the case presents “weighty and complex constitutional issues” that need to be fleshed out.

The suit also raises questions about jurisdictional claims and the proper role of the judicial branch, according to the defendants.

“Depending on how this Court resolves those threshold issues, it may not need to resolve the weighty constitutional questions the Committee’s claims present on the merits,” the opposition document said. The defendants also questioned the timing of the requests, arguing that it took the committee nearly four months to file the complaint after its request for the president’s tax returns was rejected, and nearly two months after the complaint was filed.

The string of motions came a day after Trump, in a related case, filed an amended complaint to prevent the Ways and Means Committee from retrieving his state tax information from New York. The amended complaint argued that the federal court in the District of Columbia has jurisdiction over the case and is the proper venue to resolve the matter after New York asked the court to dismiss the suit for lack of jurisdiction.

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Tax Analysts Document Number
DOC 2019-32100
Tax Analysts Electronic Citation
2019 TNTF 162-2
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