Trump 's tax returns will be the target of the Democrats' inquiry when they win the House halfway through

The mystery of President Trump's tax returns could finally come to an end if Democrats gain control of at least one congressional chamber after the November mid-term elections.

Democratic legislators in the House plan to use an obscure, almost century-old tax law – which allows congressional tax committee chairs to look into anyone's returns – to get to the bottom of Trump's finances and eventually make public the information that the president has kept since the elections of 2016.

"Probably the approach would be to get all this, to see it again and, depending on what it shows, to release all or part of it," Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, told Politico.

The 1924 Act stipulates that the Treasury Department "shall" provide "any return or return information" requested by the Chairs of the Tax Committees or the Head of the Congressional Non-Partisan Tax Committee. The law was implemented in a context of widespread concern over corruption and conflicts of interest in the business interests of Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.

During the Trump campaign for the Oval Office, the candidate of the time was the subject of much criticism for not publishing copies of his tax returns. The former businessman refrained from making his statements in public, claiming he was under the control of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and would release them after the review was completed.

Even after winning the White House, Mr. Trump continued to face pressure for his returns to be released, including from protesters across the country on Tax Day in 2017.

While the Trump Finance Inquiry could quickly answer questions about its tax returns, the Democrats did not do much publicity about their plans – largely for fear of jeopardizing the president's base during mid-term elections. where they should go out over at least one congressional chamber.

The Cook political report puts the Democrats' chances of winning the House at 75%. And even though their chances of winning the Senate are much lower, even Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of the R-Ky. Conceded that it was a possibility.

It was very unusual for Trump to go against the 40-year-old tradition of candidates releasing their tax returns, but it would also be very unusual for the Congress to publish confidential tax information, in part. particular the tax information of a chairman in office. This is not, however, unprecedented.

During the Obama administration, Republican Finance and Ways and Means committees have agreed to release private tax information on conservative groups seeking to obtain tax-exempt status following investigations. to determine whether they were discriminated against. The movement has been widely criticized by the Democrats, but it now seems that they will use this as a justification for publishing Trump's information.

"There are legitimate oversight issues that can only be answered by having these documents," said Senator Mark Warner, D-Va. In Politico.