Two Texas lawmakers spar over Trump’s tax returns

WASHINGTON — The battle over President Donald Trump’s tax returns has become a tale of two powerful Texans on the House Ways and Means Committee.

As the new Democratic majority in the House takes its first tentative steps to obtain the records, Texas Republican Kevin Brady has emerged as one of the administration’s top congressional defenders, arguing that the move would jeopardize all Americans’ right to privacy.

“This is about protecting the private tax returns of every American,” the Republican from The Woodlands wrote in a letter to the Democratic chairman of the committee, which held its first hearing on presidential tax returns Thursday. “When we start making exceptions for one taxpayer, it begins the process of eroding and threatening the privacy rights of all taxpayers.”

Brady, the former chairman of the tax-writing committee and now its ranking Republican, registered himself “deeply concerned” and accused Democrats of “weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes.”

On the other side is Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a top Democrat on the panel who has filed six motions calling for Trump’s returns to be released over the past two years.

Democratic leaders in Congress have portrayed the effort as a question of transparency and accountability, arguing that since the early 1970s, most presidents have chosen to release their returns publicly to head off questions about how their financial interests might affect their decisions as president.

“This has never been a problem before,” said Doggett, who represents Austin and parts of San Antonio. “But we see almost daily now some indication of the president’s interest in putting personal gain over the public interest, and we need to know through these returns if that’s been happening.”

Trump would be the only major-party candidate since 1976 not to publicly disclose his tax records, according to a Joint Committee on Taxation report released ahead of Thursday’s hearing. He has said he won’t release his returns while under IRS audit, though there is no legal prohibition against self-disclosure.

“Overwhelmingly, the public wants to see the president’s tax returns,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters.

Democrats pressing

Brady’s letter came two days after Trump warned Democrats about “ridiculous partisan investigations” — an apparent dig at the special counsel and congressional probes of Russian election interference.

Democratic leaders brushed off Trump’s implied threat about bottling up legislation and continued to press for the release of his returns, which some critics say could provide evidence of his business ties to Russia. As the battle intensifies, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has made clear that Trump will fight any request in court, which Doggett said Democrats must be prepared to do.

Thursday’s House hearing focused on a sweeping Democratic ethics package that would require future presidential candidates to release 10 years of tax returns. But the provision is widely seen as directed at Trump, who is running for re-election in 2020.

The new chairman of the Ways and Means panel, Massachusetts Democrat Richard Neal, has said he plans to invoke a rarely used IRS provision that Democrats say authorizes him to request Trump’s tax returns from the Treasury Department. The law, IRS code 6103, putatively grants that authority to the chairmen of the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means Committees.

Democrats sought support for their position from apanel of tax, ethics and federal policy experts, some of whom urged Congress to demand Trump’s tax returns immediately.

The Treasury secretary would have “no wiggle room” to deny such a request from the Ways and Means Committee, said George Yin, a University of Virginia law professor and former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.

Ken Kies, managing director at the Federal Policy Group, was invited at the request of the panel’s Republicans. He testified that even if the Treasury Department acceded to the Democrats’ request for Trump’s tax returns, it would be illegal to release them to the public.

‘Lazy legislating’

Meanwhile, Brady and other Republican leaders in Congress have dismissed the Democratic effort as a partisan witch hunt.

“Our view is that this isn’t about whether the president should release his tax returns or not,” Brady told reporters Wednesday. “This should be about protecting the rights of every private taxpayer. … Because if Democrats or any party can abuse their power to rummage through the tax returns of the president, what will stop them from abusing that power in the future — frankly, to target any individual American that they see as a political enemy?”

Doggett, an outspoken critic of the president, scoffed at the suggestion that releasing Trump’s returns would endanger the privacy of ordinary Americans.

“The president is in a unique position as the most powerful elected official in the world,” he said. “The range of the president’s ability to influence public policy is immense. The public has an interest in knowing of the president’s personal and business affairs.”

Doggett also maintained that the demand is not partisan. The same would be expected of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire businessman and philanthropist who has talked of running for president as a Democrat. It would apply equally to former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is mulling an independent run for president.

Doggett also bristled at Brady’s accusation of “weaponizing” the IRS against Trump. “Sunlight may be a weapon, but it’s a weapon against corruption, bias and self-dealing, and that’s what’s involved here.”

Brady, in his letter to Neal on Thursday, said he recognized the public’s right to know about potential conflicts of interest. But he said the public already is protected by existing financial disclosure requirements, FBI background checks and annual IRS audits.

“Mandating the release of tax returns without consent is lazy legislating,” he wrote. “Such a half-hearted attempt masks the real reason for this hearing — playing partisan ‘gotcha’ politics.” kevin.diaz@chron.com