House Democrats seem to have been emboldened by their recent wins against President Donald Trump and now it looks like they are aggressively going after his tax returns. The recent win for Democrats has been their success in denying Trump's demands for a border wall. However, Democratic strategies believe that the party has to be careful not to overstep as it could hurt them and their candidates in the upcoming 2020 elections.
The party has been carefully selecting battles against the Republican administration to ensure that it does not create a toxic partisan environment. According to a recent ABC News poll, the Democrats next move might be a legislative attempt to make Trump release his tax returns. The poll revealed that a majority of citizens, around 60 percent, do want House Democrats to go after Trump's tax returns. Only 35 percent are against making any legislative moves.
To achieve their goals, House Democrats have to convince the House Ways and Means Chair, Richard Neal, to demand Trump's tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service. As indicated in a 1924 provision, the chair of the committee has the power to request the IRS to turn over the documents. If this happens, there is a very big chance that the documents may immediately go public.
Neal has so far been reluctant to ask the IRS even amidst criticism from liberal groups. In an interview with reporters, Neal explained that he had to be very careful about his next moves seeing as that it might lead to a brutal legal battle. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin will likely deny the request given Trump's previous resistance to releasing any of his past tax documents.
President Trump is the first president to refuse to make his tax returns public. He is also the first major-party nominee to do so. The president has continually made excuses as to why he is refusing to release his tax returns. Some of his excuses include not being able to legally do so because he was still under audit by the IRS. This is not necessarily true as a person can still release his or her returns despite being under audit. Trump has also suggested that there will be nothing to see in the tax returns and that it may be too complicated for most people to understand.
After the 2016 elections, Trump also made it seem like the people weren't really interested to see his tax returns. His senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway, previously mentioned in a press event that the American people that voted for Trump and are not interested in looking at his tax returns.
