Washington 10th of August : The US House Ways and Means Committee is able to use federal law to access the tax returns of former President Donald Trump, a federal appeals court in Washington has decided. The decision of the three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in an ongoing legal dispute would allow committee chairman Richard Neal to get Trump’s personal documents from the Treasury Department, reports dpa news agency.
The President who intervened when the Joe Biden administration stated it would be in compliance with the request been arguing that Neal and Democrats were planning to use the results against him politically or to strengthen IRS surveillance of the presidency in an infringement of the separation of powers.
However, the D.C.Circuit panel ruled they were able to only study the words Neal had written in his application, and not statements from other members of Congress regarding what they could do with Trump’s return once they’ve got them.
“The simple fact that individual members of Congress might have political motives as well as legislative motives is of not a moment,” the opinion, written by Senior Judge David B.Sentelle, states.
“Indeed it is very rare that a member of Congress would be working to achieve a legislative goal without taking into consideration the implications of politics.”
The committee claimed it needed the returns to examine tax administration, which includes the program that requires presidents’ returns to be audited.The decision comes after years of lawsuits seeking Trump’s tax returns under a law passed in 1976 which gave Congress committees the authority to examine individual returns.
The law grants Neal as chairman of the committee the authority to ask for these returns.
Neal expressed his appreciation for the decision in an interview on Tuesday, stating that “our policy has been confirmed by the Courts”.
“I’m thrilled that this much-anticipated opinion is clear that the law is in our favor.Once we receive the tax returns we will begin our supervision of the IRS’s presidential mandatory audit program.” Neal said.
The committee posted on Twitter: “We expect to receive the tax returns we requested as well as audit files as soon as possible.”
The ruling on Tuesday was a confirmation of an earlier court ruling that dismissed Trump’s lawsuit which seeks to stop the Treasury Department from releasing to the committee his personal tax returns as well as the returns of various of his companies.
Although the committee appeared to be confident that it would get the tax returns soon the committee’s Tuesday’s report included “the possibility of an appellate reviews in this case as well as Mazars” which is one of the cases brought by the House Oversight and Reform Committee seeking Trump’s personal financial records.
A separate order was issued on Tuesday suspended the decision for seven days and allowed Trump to request a rehearing in the D.C.Circuit or to appeal.
The committee has never sought tax returns of an incumbent or former President.
In addition, Trump himself broke with the long-standing tradition of refusing to reveal his tax returns prior to or after he had won his race for the presidency in light of ongoing audits.
The president who was the first to release his tax returns, Richard Nixon, did the same while under audit.
The lawsuit began in the year 2019 when Trump was in the office.
Neal as well as the committee sought access to his tax returns, that the Treasury Department refused to provide after claiming that Neal’s arguments were pretextual.
Neal has reissued his request in 2021.
The Biden administration has said it will be in compliance with.
Trump later intervened in the matter, reiterating arguments from his time when he was in his office.
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