# Why would Congress make Trump's tax returns public? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [December 20, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859 "2022-12-20T18:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/81 "2022-12-21T16:01:53Z")
The fact that they did so with one private American citizen just _yesterday_ is all the cite I need, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/82 "2022-12-21T16:02:34Z")
What would prohibit it? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/83 "2022-12-21T16:05:31Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > The other presidents didn’t “have theirs released”, they chose to release them. So did Trump. (I mean, granted, he said that, _as soon as the audit is finished, it will be released_; and so, if the audit is finished, well, shucks: that’s his choice, all the way.) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/84 "2022-12-21T16:06:53Z")
Lastly: the House Ways and Means Committee _purposely_ limited the scope of the _public_ release _solely_ to those years in which Trump was a candidate/President (2015-2020). They are as aware of anyone on this Board of the privacy/revenge arguments, and this limited scope is how they dealt with it. They didn’t release all his returns, just the ones which corresponded to his ‘official capacity’. Me? I would have gone back to the year he got his social security number because I am 100% positive that Fred Trump was using his kids to scam the IRS. I mean, if _my_ Dad did so, so did Donald Trump’s! 😆 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/85 "2022-12-21T16:17:08Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > The fact that they did so with one private American citizen just _yesterday_ is all the cite I need, my friend. Thank you, but that’s not chapter and verse, which is what I requested. IME, you’re really good at researching things, so I thought I’d ask. But if I _can’t_ trouble you for chapter and verse, I guess I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/86 "2022-12-21T16:23:21Z")
I asked on Twitter, let’s see what I can come up with: > ---
**Author:** ![Skypist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skypist/32/169_2.png) [@Skypist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skypist)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/87 "2022-12-21T16:35:38Z")
Because the Supreme Court told Trump to go away? ---
**Author:** ![MulderMuffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldermuffin/32/2862_2.png) [@MulderMuffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MulderMuffin)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/88 "2022-12-21T16:43:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Custom or law, this was all legal. I don’t disagree at all that they had the absolute right. I don’t even necessarily think it was wrong to release them. The Orange Menace should have released them years ago without all of this drama. Just a vague, Star Wars-ish _I have a bad feeling about this._ That being said, i have a such great deal of respect for your opinions and your readings on so much that has come before that I’m going to dive back in to see if there’s something I’m missing that would change my gut reservations. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/89 "2022-12-21T16:47:47Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Shouldn’t the IRS have a paper trail? Someone first reviews a return, files a provisional “audit or no audit” memo, that is responded to by a higher-up if reconsideration is requested, etc. > > Or do you think “Nobody knows who made the call, and the call about the call” is going to fly? Well, that’s how the Mob does business. Nothing on paper, just put pressure on each person in the process to “lose the file”. If someone balks, well, look here, that person got re-assigned to a “priority case” that’s going to take up all their time. “But boss, what about the Trump File?” “Don’t worry Bob, I’ll assign it to someone else, you just get working on that new case.” And then just never re-assign it. I think everyone who works in a large bureaucracy can tell you half a dozen ways of deliberating slowing down or derailing their processes, if you really want to do that, with very little ever showing up in the paper records. I could do it myself in my job, but I don’t because of my personal ethics. Put some MAGAt fanatic in my job and tell him he’s “owning the libs” by messing things up, and the results could be quite different. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/90 "2022-12-21T16:54:46Z")
It’s not used often for the purpose, but there’s a provision in [26 U.S. Code § 6103](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103) that certain Congressional Committees can be granted access to such privy tax information and are allowed to vote to disclose it to the full House, which, in effect, would make it publicly accessible. Nixon’s returns were publicly disclosed via this route. And that provision has been used a few other times. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/91 "2022-12-21T17:02:18Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > certain Congressional Committees can be granted access to such privy tax information and are allowed to vote to disclose it to the full House, which, in effect, would make it publicly accessible. I get that the legal authority to access tax info for Congress is clear and obvious. And I acknowledge that disclosure to the full House is likely to make it public. But like I said earlier, I was hoping for a leak. Yes, I suppose this is splitting hairs. I don’t want to appear to be defending Trump. There’s no news that would make me happier than video of him getting cuffed and frog marched off of his own stage, preferably with the wind flipping his hair over, while his own people boo at him and his unctuous children flee the country. Nixon didn’t release them voluntarily? If I ever knew this I forgot! ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/92 "2022-12-21T17:03:13Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Nixon didn’t release them voluntarily? If I ever knew this I forgot! He mostly did, actually. But there were a few documents, accountants notes and such mainly IIRC, that weren’t that the Ways and Means Committee accessed and rolled into their report. It’s not always about the returns themselves but all the other information surrounding them that give additional insight. ETA: To be fair, Nixon may well have released those voluntarily if asked but the IRS handed them over pretty quickly (within a day or two) of the committee asking. It was just faster. As compared to the years long struggle here. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/93 "2022-12-21T17:20:07Z")
> [@MulderMuffin](#): > > That being said, i have a such great deal of respect for your opinions and your readings on so much that has come before that I’m going to dive back in to see if there’s something I’m missing that would change my gut reservations. Thank you, I am genuinely touched. I don’t know, but sometimes what is right isn’t always _right_ in totality, but the need to _define_ what is right overrides these concerns. And in this case, given the economic and political structure of this country, the US HW&MC has decided that the principle that “the People should _know_ their President (or candidate for the office) is not criminally cheating the very government we want them to lead” is _more_ important than the principle of “IRS-records privacy for this self-selected group of citizens who are actively running for the Presidency.” And I am fine with that, Muldoon. Because our right to know our candidates are not crooks is more important than the crooks right to keep their crimes silent. If you’re a tax-cheating crook, the solution is clear: don’t run for President. Plain, pure, and simple. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/94 "2022-12-21T17:30:46Z")
Anyway, here’s hoping the Caponing of Trump begins. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/95 "2022-12-21T17:30:51Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Finding out if the IRS was following the law was the legislative purpose outlined in the original request. And bloody good thing they made the request, because as it turns out, they were right in suspecting the IRS was NOT following the law. Now somebody needs to find out who made that decision, and what influenced that decision. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/96 "2022-12-21T17:31:35Z")
I hope it doesn’t take as long as finding out who that mystery fella behind the coup was! For _years_ the nation wondered! ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/97 "2022-12-21T17:33:08Z")
I acknowledge and share pretty much all the concerns expressed above, but … - The Republicans don’t need anything _real_ in order to exact revenge. The cruelty _is_ the point; - I’m fond of the saying, "“The safest thing to do is vote against a bill that passes or vote for a bill that fails.” I’ll make peace with my on-the-record privacy concerns and eagerly await learning what we can from his returns 😉 Remember: Trump never released his tax returns to the public. Trump never put his assets into a blind trust. Trump’s children continued to manage his global operations throughout Trump’s Presidency. THAT’s what “10% to the big guy” _actually_ looks like. If we can glean substantial conflicts of interests between his assets/business interests and the policy machinations of his presidency … well … I don’t know what options, if any, may exist for redress, but I’d still damned sure want that info to be loudly public. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/98 "2022-12-21T17:33:26Z")
I’ll take a wild guess and say Steve Mnuchin made the decision and was influenced by a stout fellow with blond hair and orange skin. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/99 "2022-12-21T17:40:38Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@Napier](#): > > > > The other presidents didn’t “have theirs released”, they chose to release them. > > So did Trump. > > (I mean, granted, he said that, _as soon as the audit is finished, it will be released_; and so, if the audit is finished, well, shucks: that’s his choice, all the way.) I like this line of thought. The committee was just doing Trump a favor, by finding out that he was not actually under audit. So they are simply doing what Trump promised he would. Trump should be thanking them. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2022, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859/100 "2022-12-21T17:49:27Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > the Caponing of Trump He _has_ some rooster-like characteristics. 😄 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-would-congress-make-trumps-tax-returns-public/976859.md?page=6)