# A congressman is trying to invoke 1924 tax law giving Congress power to examine Trump's tax returns **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 11, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565 "2017-02-11T18:20:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/1 "2017-02-11T18:20:39Z")
> **[Pascrell: Rarely used law could make Trump tax returns public](https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2017/02/10/pascrell-rarely-used-law-could-make-trump-tax-returns-public/97755792/)** > > Democrat wants Ways and Means committee to obtain returns from Treasury Department and disclose them. > [@](#): > > Pascrell, a Democrat from Paterson who serves on the Ways and Means Committee, has asked the committee’s chairman, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, to order the Treasury Department to provide tax returns to the committee. Brady’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday. > After privately examining returns – Pascrell is seeking 10 years’ worth – the committee could decide to share them with the full House, which would in effect make them public. The 1924 law gives congressional committees that set tax policy the power to examine tax returns. It was used in 1974 when Congress looked at President Richard Nixon’s returns, and in 2014 when the Ways and Means Committee released confidential tax information as part of its investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s handling of applications for nonprofit status. I wish I could believe that he’ll get somewhere with this. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/2 "2017-02-11T18:32:18Z")
You know why Agent Orange won’t release his returns… they’re printed on the back of Obama’s long-form birth certificate! ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/3 "2017-02-12T04:55:23Z")
> [@davidm](#): > > [Pascrell: Rarely used law could make Trump tax returns public](http://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2017/02/10/pascrell-rarely-used-law-could-make-trump-tax-returns-public/97755792/) > > I wish I could believe that he’ll get somewhere with this. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/4 "2017-02-12T15:39:00Z")
Bill is So Cool! He’s one of those NJ politicians that make you almost forget the shitty ones. I hear that he’s on Twitter… ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/5 "2017-02-12T16:07:42Z")
Yet another thing I wish would happen, which means it won’t. Not this year, anyway. Remember when we though 2017 had to be better than 2016? ---
**Author:** ![AngelSoft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angelsoft/32/440_2.png) [@AngelSoft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelSoft)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/6 "2017-02-12T16:50:23Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > Yet another thing I wish would happen, which means it won’t. Not this year, anyway. Remember when we though 2017 had to be better than 2016? And if it does happen, then what? Nothing has stuck with this guy. Nothing is ever investigated, he’s never held accountable. It’ll be just another passing news story in the string of outrageous news stories about Trump and his administration. As long as the Republicans have control of everything, nothing’s going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/7 "2017-02-12T19:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > It’ll be just another passing news story in the string of outrageous news stories about Trump and his administration. It’s unfortunate that stories like “Democratic Congress members go fishing; Come up empty again” are only noticed in passing. Like when Harry Reid lied about Romney’s tax returns. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/8 "2017-02-13T11:20:07Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > It’s unfortunate that stories like “Democratic Congress members go fishing; Come up empty again” are only noticed in passing. > > Like when Harry Reid lied about Romney’s tax returns. You know, when this happened, I thought it was absolutely outrageous. Now I see it as a quaint attempt in a political arena with one stellar leader in the outrageous lie category and everyone else scrambling for second place. Kinda like Elvis with his record-breaking 12 number one songs, and then the Beatles came along. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/9 "2017-02-13T15:04:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > You know, when this happened, I thought it was absolutely outrageous. > > Now I see it as a quaint attempt in a political arena with one stellar leader in the outrageous lie category and everyone else scrambling for second place. Kinda like Elvis with his record-breaking 12 number one songs, and then the Beatles came along. Dude, really? After all the very destructive Bush Administration lies about Iraq (‘we know where the WMDs are’, ‘it’ll be a cakewalk’, ‘it’ll pay for itself’, etc.) and all the GOP lies about Obamacare (‘death panels,’ _tyranny!_') to try to make sure that tens of millions remained uninsured, Reid saying the reason Romney wasn’t releasing his taxes (a lie, surely, but one without dire consequences) was because he didn’t pay any - that somehow eclipsed the field, back in the pre-Trump days? Or - almost an exact equivalent to Reid - that Obama wasn’t revealing his birth certificate because he was really born in Kenya. Basically a put-up-or-shut-up thing: you can show everyone the documents, or you’ll have to live with whatever story we spin about them. (And yeah, Trump pushed this story, but he had plenty of help from prominent Republicans.) Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how the world looks through someone else’s eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/10 "2017-02-13T17:04:33Z")
Do you have any examples of where it was OK for Republicans to lie about Democrats? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/11 "2017-02-13T17:10:46Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Dude, really? > > After all the very destructive Bush Administration lies about Iraq (‘we know where the WMDs are’, ‘it’ll be a cakewalk’, ‘it’ll pay for itself’, etc.) and all the GOP lies about Obamacare (‘death panels,’ _tyranny!_') to try to make sure that tens of millions remained uninsured, Reid saying the reason Romney wasn’t releasing his taxes (a lie, surely, but one without dire consequences) was because he didn’t pay any - that somehow eclipsed the field, back in the pre-Trump days? > > Or - almost an exact equivalent to Reid - that Obama wasn’t revealing his birth certificate because he was really born in Kenya. Basically a put-up-or-shut-up thing: you can show everyone the documents, or you’ll have to live with whatever story we spin about them. (And yeah, Trump pushed this story, but he had plenty of help from prominent Republicans.) > > Sometimes it’s hard to figure out how the world looks through someone else’s eyes. I think he’s saying that, compared to Trump, the Reid lie that he then found so outrageous now seems laughably inoffensive. A bit like how, after your house burns down, you can’t help but chuckle at how annoyed you were when the movers scuffed the paint on the dado rail. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/12 "2017-02-13T19:37:58Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > I think he’s saying that, compared to Trump, the Reid lie that he then found so outrageous now seems laughably inoffensive. A bit like how, after your house burns down, you can’t help but chuckle at how annoyed you were when the movers scuffed the paint on the dado rail. He is saying that - no argument there. But he’s _also_ saying that pre-Trump, Reid was the “one stellar leader in the outrageous lie category and everyone else scrambling for second place.” That’s the ‘WTF?’ part AFAIAC. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/13 "2017-02-13T19:43:40Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Do you have any examples of where it was OK for Republicans to lie about Democrats? Post #9. Born in Kenya, and death panels. Not that there’s any shortage out there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2017, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-congressman-is-trying-to-invoke-1924-tax-law-giving-congress-power-to-examine-trumps-tax-returns/779565/14 "2017-02-13T20:07:33Z")
While we’re at it, did the Trump Foundation ever reveal its records, or is that still just on indefinite deferral?