Trump tax battle enters new phase as judge sets new hearing
Former US President Donald Trump’s battle to keep his undisclosed tax returns away from Congress has entered a new phase after a federal judge set a new hearing session in the case for November.
During his term, Trump blocked any effort by the congressional Democrats to achieve his tax records.
As the last attempt, the House Ways and Means Committee asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in 2019 to hand over Trump’s tax returns to the committee, but Trump’s Justice Department advised the Treasury Department to reject the request.
However, after US President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the Treasury Department changed its position, saying it would hand over the tax returns to the committee.
“Applying the proper degree of deference due the Committee, we believe that there is ample basis to conclude that its June 2021 Request for former President Trump’s tax information would further the Committee’s principal stated objective of assessing the IRS’s presidential audit program—a plainly legitimate area for congressional inquiry and possible legislation,” the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) said in a memo. “The Chairman’s additional stated objectives for reviewing that tax information are also legitimate, and the Committee has authority to seek the records for those reasons as well.”
The investigations into the former president’s tax records comes after Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, was charged with tax crimes in July.
Trump’s legal team, however, has been trying to portray the efforts to achieve his tax returns as politically motivated and illegitimate.
The requests for the former president’s tax returns “are unlawful and unenforceable because they lack a legitimate legislative purpose, exceed statutory authority, violate the First Amendment, violate due process, and/or violate the separation of powers,” Trump’s legal team wrote in a new court document last Wednesday.
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