Trump’s Tax Returns Released By House Ways And Means Committee

Trump Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Years of a legal back-and-forth have resulted in the House of Ways Committee releasing Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday.

As the result of a partisan vote, the committee voted to reveal Trump’s tax returns for the years between 2015 and 2020. The documents include both his personal and business filings.

In a press release, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) managed to inject a cliché Voltaire (or Spiderman) quote in his justification for the release saying, “A president is no ordinary taxpayer. They hold power and influence unlike any other American. And with great power comes even greater responsibility.

The statement went on to say, “Our work has always been to ensure our tax laws are administered fairly and without preference, because at times, even the power of a president can loom too large.”

Kevin Brady (R-TX), who also serves on the Committee, highlighted how the extraordinary move serves no “legislative purpose” and is entirely political. He then went on to say how this exposes regular Americans to unprecedented levels of targeting.

Brady said, “Americans now have confirmation that there was never a legislative purpose behind the public release of these confidential records and that the IRS was conducting audits prior to Democrats’ request.”

He also said, “Despite these facts, Democrats have charged forward with an unprecedented decision to unleash a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president, overturning decades of privacy protections for average Americans that have existed since Watergate.”

Trump responded to the document’s release saying, “The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people. The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”