Democrats face minefield when they receive Trump's tax returns

The Democrats' attempt to seize President Donald Trump's tax returns will pose a serious legal risk to themselves.

Legislators are concerned that even if they receive the president's documents, his statements remain protected by strict confidentiality laws – it is a crime, punishable by up to five years, to improperly disclose confidential tax information.

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The dilemmas can be solved and the Democrats intend to make public at least some information about Trump's taxes – that's the essence of their efforts. But that will probably not happen right away. Legislators have stated that they would probably take the time to examine its documents in camera before making anything publicly available.

This means that in a while, the Democrats will have finally seen the president's long-hidden taxes – they will be inundated with questions about their content – but they will not be able to talk about it. If they let something go, the Republicans will surely jump, demanding an investigation from the Justice Department.

"We will have to be cautious about how to handle this," said John Larson (D-Conn.), A senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee. "It's the responsibility of every member."

It is a risk hardly recognized in the battle of the return of Trump, although this is one of the reasons why the Democrats took so long to ask them officially.

Of course, Democrats must have performance first, and they are far from that. Ways and Means President Richard Neal (D-Mass.) This week asked the administration to return Trump's personal and corporate tax returns for a period of six years, with the deadline being 10 April.

The administration has indicated its intention to fight the claim in court.

"From what I understand, the law is 100% on my side," Trump said Friday.

Whether the Democrats may need to keep Trump's taxes secret for some time has been largely neglected in the debate over the statements, probably because of a misconception of how the law passed by the Democrats works.

They rely on a statute that allows congressional tax commission chairs to review anyone's confidential taxes. Supporters of the effort point out that the law says that the Treasury Secretary "must" submit the requested returns.

But it's just the question of whether the administration has to return the documents – even if Trump's returns are delivered, they will still be protected by the privacy laws. Making them public will be a separate issue.

Experts say that legislators can do this by asking the ways and means committee to vote in camera to release them.

Although Democrats do not know exactly how they will proceed, there will likely be some time between when they will receive returns and when they will consider disclosing them.

There seems to be a "false presumption" that lawmakers will simply issue statements as soon as they have them, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), another Democratic tax writer who helped run the campaign. to get the president's statements.

"It is necessary to examine them thoroughly to see if they contain anything that would justify their release and that could take some time, because they are, according to the president, very complex," he said. "I hope it will not be months, but I do not think it will be days."

"Until this review is completed and a vote is taken to convey it to Congress and the public, they will be protected."

Democrats may want to delete certain information from statements. Trump's deposits could reveal private information about other people with whom he is in business and who are of little interest to legislators, for example.

Tax veterans say that the period between the time Democrats receive Trump's return and the time they publish something will be stressful for lawmakers, given the criminal penalties for even inadvertent disclosure. Democrats will not be able to even discuss basic questions about Trump's returns, such as the amount of taxes he paid, what he reported winning, or whether he gave to a charity.

"When we already have members in these situations, we often have members who say:" I do not know if I want you to tell me or not, because I do not know if I can trust myself for say nothing, "said Rick Grafmeyer, former deputy chief of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and expert on taxpayer privacy laws.

Tax writers generally use their authority to review personal income tax returns to assist in the policy development process. If they are trying to draft a law banning corporate tax shelter, for example, they could consult each company's tax documents to better understand the operation of the dodge.

Some say that the situation of Democrats will be more difficult than most legislators face with respect to taxpayer secrecy rules. Everyone will probably know that Democrats have the return of Trump and that legislators will be besieged by questions from journalists, voters and other lawmakers. This is very different from what happens when legislators quietly scrutinize an oil company's tax return.

In addition, the Ways and Means Committee is filled with new members who are not delved into the intricacies of the rules of tax secrecy – the closest analog, it is said, is when legislators receive briefings secret.

"I'm sure there will be briefings on all the ethical issues that come out of it," Larson said.

Many details of how exactly Democrats would handle returns have not yet been defined.

Neal could keep Trump's documents for himself and a few close associates – and not even let the other members of his panel see them. It has already indicated that it will not share responses with other committees, including the Judiciary and Oversight Committees, which have conducted their own high-profile surveys of the administration.

This would keep the circle of people who have seen Trump's taxes tight – and the more people see the statements, the more likely it is to leak.

But many of his colleagues have been demanding for months the return of the president and will certainly be unhappy to learn that they will not be able to examine them.

Another option is for lawmakers to send the documents to the YCW and ask its tax experts to analyze Trump's statements and report back on what they have found.

"They will have to think carefully about how they want to do that," said Dean Zerbe, a former Senate tax advisor. "The sanctions are certainly quite real."