WASHINGTON – House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal escalated the fight over President Donald Trump's tax returns Friday afternoon when he issued subpoenas for the documents to Department of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig. The Treasury Department had previously rejected Neal's request for six years of the president's tax returns. "While I do not take this step lightly, I believe this action gives us the best opportunity to succeed and obtain the requested material," Neal said in a statement. "I sincerely hope that the Treasury Department will furnish the requested material in the next week so the committee can quickly begin its work.” On Monday, Mnuchin rejected Neal’s request for the president’s tax returns in a letter. "In reliance on the advice of the Department of Justice, I have determined that the Committee's request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose, and pursuant to section 6103, the Department is therefore not authorized to disclose the requested returns and return information," Mnuchin wrote. Neal made the original request for Trump's 2013-2018 tax returns to the IRS, which is part of the Treasury Department. He invoked a law allowing a select few members of Congress to review individual tax returns for legislative purposes and cited legislative proposals and oversight related to federal tax laws as his basis for the request. It was the first such demand for a sitting president’s tax information in 45 years. Neal also demanded copies of tax returns for Trump's trust and for his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The subpoena comes as part of a broader effort from Congress to obtain documents and bring administration officials and allies in for questioning. On Wednesday, the GOP-led Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed Donald Trump Jr. to answer more questions. Earlier that day, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee voted to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of Congress over his refusal to hand over an unredacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Read more:Download the USA TODAY app<doc-sep>House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., sent the subpoenas to the Treasury Department and IRS. File Photo by Erin Schaff/UPI | License Photo May 10 (UPI) -- The House Ways and Means Committee on Friday sent a subpoena to the International Revenue Service and Treasury Department for copies of President Donald Trump's tax returns. The subpoenas by Chairman Richard Neal to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin came less than a week after the latter rejected a request for the documents. Mnuchin said the committee's request lacked "legitimate legislative purpose." Advertisement The committee seeks six years of Trump's personal and business returns. "While I do not take this step lightly, I believe this action gives us the best opportunity to succeed and obtain the requested material," Neal said. In addition to saying he couldn't see a legislative reason for Congress to review Trump's tax returns, Mnuchin said the release of the documents could threaten the privacy of all other tax payers. Rettig previously deferred to Mnuchin's guidance on the final decision. Earlier Monday, the top Republican on the committee, Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, cautioned Neal against issuing a subpoena or launching a lawsuit to obtain the tax returns. He said doing so would be an abuse of the committee's oversight powers. "It has been made clear that this information is not being sought to further a valid legislative purpose, but instead to try to embarrass a political enemy," Brady said in a letter to Neal. "To properly exercise congressional oversight authority, courts have long held that a valid legislative purpose is required for all congressional investigations."<doc-sep>House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal Richard Edmund NealLabor secretary faces questions from Democrats in police chief controversy Senators express bipartisan interest in reviving infrastructure financing tool Democrats renew push for permanent child credit expansion MORE (D-Mass.) on Friday announced that he has issued subpoenas for six years of President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE’s tax returns, House Democrats' latest effort to obtain the returns. Neal said he issued the subpoenas to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Steven MnuchinDemocrats justified in filibustering GOP, says Schumer Yellen provides signature for paper currency Biden's name will not appear on stimulus checks, White House says MORE and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. The subpoenas direct the officials to send the information to the House panel by 5 p.m. on May 17. "After reviewing the options available to me, and upon the advice of counsel, I issued subpoenas today to the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of the IRS for six years of personal and business returns," Neal said in a statement. ADVERTISEMENT "While I do not take this step lightly, I believe this action gives us the best opportunity to succeed and obtain the requested material," he said. "I sincerely hope that the Treasury Department will furnish the requested material in the next week so the committee can quickly begin its work.” The announcement escalates the congressional fight over Trump's tax returns and comes days after Mnuchin rejected Neal’s request, first made April 3, for Trump’s personal and business tax returns from 2013 to 2018. Neal made that request under Section 6103(f) of the federal tax code, which states that the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” tax returns requested by a chairperson of a congressional tax committee, so long as the documents are viewed in a closed session. When Mnuchin denied the request on Monday, he said it lacked a legitimate legislative purpose. He also said in a letter to Neal last month that he thinks Democrats’ goal is to obtain Trump’s tax returns “for the sake of exposure.” Neal has maintained that the Ways and Means Committee is interested in conducting oversight of how the IRS audits and enforces tax laws against a president. The chairman reiterated Friday that he believes "that reviewing the requested documents is a necessary piece of the committee’s work." In his letters to Mnuchin and Rettig enclosing the subpoenas, Neal defended his stated purpose for requesting Trump's tax returns, saying "it cannot be denied that legislation relating to IRS examination and enforcement is within the Committee's jurisdiction." The Treasury Department has raised concerns in the past about Neal's stated purpose of wanting Trump's tax returns to examine how the IRS audits presidents, noting that he only requested tax returns from Trump and not other past presidents. Neal pushed back, saying that such a concern "is misplaced and ignores the fact that the tax issues raised by the current President are unique." He said that Trump is "markedly different" from previous presidents and vice presidents that the IRS has audited under its internal policy of auditing such office-holders. The chairman pointed to Trump's years-long audit – noting that it pre-dates his presidency – as well as his status as someone who controls many business entities and the volume of his tax returns. The administration is not expected to immediately comply with Neal's subpoenas. Trump has already challenged other subpoenas that Democrats have issued for his financial records. Neal had noted earlier in the week that lawmakers haven't been getting their desired responses to subpoenas. He said that he expects the matter to eventually end up in the courts. A Treasury spokesperson confirmed Friday that the department had received the subpoena but did not provide any other comment. Many Democratic lawmakers argue that the need to see Trump’s recent tax returns was boosted by a New York Times article published this week, based on copies of Trump’s tax transcripts, that the president reported more than $1 billion in business losses from 1985 and 1994. But the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady Kevin Patrick BradyBiden administration launches trade dispute against Canadian dairy industry Lawmakers bicker over how to go after tax cheats GAO report finds maternal mortality rates higher in rural, underserved areas MORE (Texas), cited the article in a letter to Neal earlier Friday urging the chairman not to issue a subpoena or file a lawsuit to obtain Trump’s tax returns. “It has been made clear that this information is not being sought to further a valid legislative purpose, but instead to try to embarrass a political enemy,” Brady wrote. Updated: 5:40 p.m.<doc-sep>His initial invocation of the tax code provision — Section 6103 — was novel and set off a flurry of legal scholarship. The section gives the chairmen of Congress’s tax-writing committees unique powers to request information on any taxpayer from the I.R.S. and says only that the executive branch “shall” furnish the material upon request. The House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee routinely use this method to study the effects of tax policy on real taxpayers, but there is scant precedent for using it to study a president’s tax information — a fact that Republicans seized on to oppose the effort. Ultimately, Democrats decided it posed too many risks to bring directly to court. Democrats have clamored for years for Mr. Trump to release his returns, as every other modern presidential nominee had done before him. They have speculated that the president is trying to hide details of his actual financial worth as well as information that could reveal conflicts of interest between his businesses and his governmental responsibilities. Some Democrats argue they could also reveal evidence of tax evasion. But when Mr. Neal ultimately made his request in early April for six years of Trump personal and business returns, he said he needed the information for a narrower Ways and Means investigation of “the extent to which the I.R.S. audits and enforces the federal tax laws against a president.” He repeated that justification on Friday. The requests infuriated the president and his family. Mr. Trump, his personal lawyers and his Republican allies say that rationale is absurd and that Democrats are clearly concocting a fake investigation to justify getting ahold of information they can use to politically embarrass the president. Mr. Trump’s lawyers have already formalized those arguments in two lawsuits meant to stop companies that have worked with the president from handing over financial information subpoenaed by other House committees. But it was up to Mr. Trump’s government, not his private lawyers, to decide on the Ways and Means request. After weeks of delays, Mr. Mnuchin formally rejected the request in writing on Monday, telling Mr. Neal that after consulting Treasury and Justice Department lawyers, he had determined that the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose” and that he was not authorized to disclose the information in question. “As you have recognized, the committee’s request is unprecedented, and it presents serious constitutional questions, the resolution of which may have lasting consequences for all taxpayers,” Mr. Mnuchin wrote. He added that the department would be willing to provide the committee more generalized information about how the I.R.S. conducts presidential audits.<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal on Friday subpoenaed President Donald Trump’s tax returns, giving the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service one week to turn over the tax records. In the latest salvo of a political battle widely expected to end in federal court, Neal issued separate subpoenas to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig that seek six years of Trump’s individual and business tax returns. The officials have until 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) on May 17 to produce the material. Trump is stonewalling oversight investigations by Neal and five other Democratic committee chairs in the House of Representatives, prompting Democrats to warn Trump officials that they could face contempt citations along with heavy fines and even impeachment by defying congressional subpoenas. The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend a contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General William Barr this week after he defied a subpoena seeking the unredacted report on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. “While I do not take this step lightly, I believe this action gives us the best opportunity to succeed and obtain the requested material,” Neal said in a statement issued by his committee. “I sincerely hope that the Treasury Department will furnish the requested material in the next week so the committee can quickly begin its work,” he added. As House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Neal is the only House lawmaker authorized to seek Trump’s tax returns under a federal law that says the Treasury secretary “shall furnish” such documents upon request. Democrats want Trump’s returns as part of their inquiry into possible conflicts of interest posed by his continued ownership of extensive business interests, even as he serves as president. On Monday, Mnuchin denied Neal’s formal April 3 request for the returns, arguing that the committee request lacked “a legitimate legislative purpose.” Trump has broken with a decades-old precedent among recent U.S. presidents by refusing to release his tax returns while a presidential candidate in 2016 or since being elected, saying he could not do so while his taxes were being audited. His former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, told a House panel in February that he does not believe Trump’s taxes are under audit. Cohen said the president feared releasing his returns could lead to an audit and IRS tax penalties. Trump administration officials and Republicans in Congress have condemned Democratic efforts to obtain Trump’s tax returns, saying it could “weaponize” the IRS and confidential taxpayer information for political purposes. Representative Kevin Brady, the top Ways and Means Republican, sent a letter to Neal earlier on Friday, urging the chairman not to proceed. “Such actions would be an abuse of the committee’s oversight powers and further examples of the Democrat majority’s coordinated attempt to weaponize the tax code and use Congress’s legitimate oversight authority for political gain,” Brady wrote.