During the testimony of ex-attorney of the president, Michael Cohen, he revealed information that made Congress asked for the tax returns of the president. In the NBC news article, it is claimed that "Cohen testified that Trump, as head of the sprawling Trump Organization before his election in 2016, had at times deflated the value of his properties to lower his tax bill and called the government “stupid” for giving him a $10 million tax refund in 2008." President Trump is the first president since Nixon to not disclose his tax returns to the public.
The House of Ways and Means Committee and its Chair D-Mass Richard Neal will do whatever it takes to retrieve these documents. This is the chief tax-writing that committee looks over all of the taxation bills in the House of Representatives. Instead of targeting Trump Organization, they are going after his personal since it will take years to analyze all of the liability companies weaved through.
Questions:
1) Should the government trust that the President will follow the orders or will he refute the request?
2) Do you believe that the tax returns have viable information that will help the impeachment of the president?
3) Do you have ideas of what Congress should do next if they cannot get him to hand over the tax returns?
Work Cited:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-democrats-prepare-effort-request-trump-tax-returns-n978246
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/01/democrats-are-preparing-to-request-trumps-tax-returns-nbc.html
The House should assume the worst and act accordingly, that these records will not be divulged willingly (as shown previously). By formulating a airtight request, they can delay the challenges legal and otherwise keeping them from obtaining his tax returns. The tax returns will almost certainly demonstrate some financial misconduct, even if it's not related to the major terms of the investigation, whether it's by improperly abusing tax write-offs, or to corroborate assertions made against the president, such as that from Daniels. His willingness to hand over his tax returns is immaterial, if they get the authority to do it on a legal basis and from the IRS, they will get it from the IRS, if the process fails and they don't obtain the records, they're likely to not change much, because the records are mostly meant to corroborate other accounts of wrongdoing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniel in that the House should not hesitate to check his taxes. I just think that it is in the country's best interest to not trust him because it could cause us all to skip over a serious crime that he has committed. I don't think that it will be enough evidence to impeach him, but it will cause fewer people to trust him in general. Hopefully this will also convince many people not to elect him again in the future, making space for new candidates. Honestly, I would be highly surprised if he doesn't give over his tax returns because then it is further evidence that he is attempting to hide something.
ReplyDeleteThe government should not trust that the President will follow orders. Time and time again President Trump has refuted or straight up refused orders, coming up with his own legislation and abusing his executive power in order to avoid his investigation and personal affairs in general. I'm not sure about impeachment, but since the Democrats now hold the House majority, I do think they're much more likely to put this investigation at the forefront of their affairs.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that most presidents show their tax returns to the public while Trump refused to disclose his tax returns makes me suspicious of why he would not disclose his tax returns other than him potentially covering the lies he made for his own business. I feel like that is the issue with having a businessman for president - he may bend the law for his own profit or use his power as president to cover previous illegal actions.
ReplyDeleteAs stated above in the comments, I also agree that the House cannot trust Trump to following through with the orders regarding his taxes. As Daniel stated, Trump has a bad history with following orders from Congress and this would be no exception. I think that his tax returns do hold viable information that will help impeach Trump because, if there was nothing to hide, why not just show us your tax returns? The president made his tax returns a bigger deal than it would be if he just turned them in, but especially now with this ongoing investigation into his controversial history, Trump is just looking more and more suspicious the longer he keeps his tax returns a secret.
ReplyDeleteAs already mentioned, I think President Trump will use his power to try and block the House's request to see his tax returns. Because of his lack of complacency and the many secrets and controversy that seem to be surrounding the issue, I think that his tax returns could potentially contain information that could endanger Trump's credibility as President. Not only could Trump be facing impeachment if his tax returns are found to be untruthful, yet he will also end up losing the trust of the public. Overall, I think that Trump single-handedly blew this issue out of proportion when he refused to show his tax returns in the first place. At this point, I think it is important that they are made public, so that the American people no longer feel deceived and confused regarding the untrustworthy past of their President.
ReplyDeleteAlthough typically I would think that this would not be a problem for congress. However, as Trump has been accused of tax fraud/evasion in the past I think the best move would be to ensure that the request is very specific, and addresses any legal loopholes that could be used to delay the release of his tax returns.
ReplyDelete