April 4 (UPI) — House Democrats on Wednesday sent a request to the Internal Revenue Service asking for copies of President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
The request includes Trump’s business and personal returns from the past six years.
“I today submitted to IRS Commissioner [Charles] Rettig my request for six years of the president’s personal tax returns as well as the returns for some of his business entities,” House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said in a statement. “We have completed the necessary groundwork for a request of this magnitude and I am certain we are within our legitimate legislative, legal, and oversight rights.”
The request is likely to set up a lengthly battle between the committee and Trump, who declined to publicize any of his recent returns during his presidential campaign and hasn’t shown any since he took office. Traditionally, presidential candidates publicly release their tax returns as a show of transparency, but it is not required.
Responding to the news Wednesday, Trump repeated his explanation for not releasing the returns — he’s under audit.
“I’m always under audit, it seems, but I’ve been under audit for many years because the numbers are big, and I guess when you have a name, you’re audited,” he told reporters. “But until such time as I’m not under audit, I would not be inclined to do it.”
