Posted on 12/22/2022 11:17:49 AM PST by Red Badger
The House of Representatives passed a bill mandating annual reviews of a president’s tax returns Thursday, following a committee move to disclose publicly former President Donald Trump's tax returns earlier in the week.
Dubbed the Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act, the measure cleared the lower chamber 222-201 largely along party lines. The bill follows revelations that the IRS did not audit Trump during two of the years he served as president.
Under IRS policy, the tax agency is required to audit sitting presidents annually, but those rules were agency requirements. The bill that passed the House Thursday would enshrine that policy into federal law. Although the reasons are not clear, the IRS declined to audit Trump's tax returns in 2017 and 2018, according to a report released Tuesday by the House Ways and Means Committee.
Trump had filed tax returns during both those years, but the agency didn't audit him until 2019 after Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA), the outgoing chairman of the committee, asked the IRS commissioner for his tax returns, per the report. Ironically, IRS tax audits were one of the reasons Trump cited for not divulging his tax returns to the public.
Additionally, the bill would mandate the IRS audit entities controlled by the president and have the president's tax returns disclosed within about three months of filing.
"The IRS has failed to administer its own mandatory audit program policies, so the best available recourse is for Congress to fill this void with legislation that eliminates the IRS’s discretion in the matter. That’s what we are doing today," Neal declared in a floor speech.
On Tuesday, the House Ways and Means Committee released its report about its inquiry into how the IRS oversaw its tax audit system during the Trump administration. During that vote, the panel greenlighted the release of six years' worth of Trump's tax returns, but the document trove has not been published because it must undergo redactions.
Committee members obtained Trump's federal tax returns from 2015 to 2020 following a Supreme Court decision last month. Data from the tax returns revealed that Trump reported hefty losses during the six-year period and paid minimal income taxes.
Many House Republicans have condemned the move to release Trump's returns, warning that it could come back to haunt the Democrats.
Did they name PDJT in the bill?
I doubt it. It for ALL FUTURE PRESIDENTS.......................
Great - Now we can see “Let’s Go Brandon’s” tax records.....
Haha! As if a ‘Rat presidents taxes will ever be given the most cursory glance by the IRS.
Probably will not withstand SCOTUS review.
I thought part of the deal with getting Donald Trump’s tax returns was a promise to not make them public. Silly me.
Audit family members too. And CONgress critters while at it.
I would add
“and for the 5 years after leaving office”
That’s disgusting.
The IRS cooked it up on their own originally? On whose authority?
If there’s credible evidence of tax evasion, fine. If not, they process it just like anyone else.
Separation of Powers. They may as well require a colonoscopy.
Many House Republicans have condemned the move to release Trump’s returns, warning that it could come back to haunt the Democrats.
but this is just grandstanding by the rats as usual.
ridiculous
It is much more important to have an annual review of Representatives and Senators, especially those in leadership positions.
If they did, it would be an illegal bill of attainder.
Hey twit romney- what say you?
Let’s see the tax returns of every Democrat politician, their staffers, and their family members. We know who the thieves are.
Yup. Remember the Reid Rule and Biden Rule per SCOTUS?
BIDEN will squirm every which way but LOOSE to get out of this requirement-——
.
Biden’s cash schemes don’t make his tax forms.
He gets a Mansion worth 12x what he paid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.