Democrats call for yearly presidential audits following report on Trump tax returns
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Democrats are pushing for Congress to pass a new law that would require an annual audit of a sitting president’s taxes after a new report by the House Ways and Means Committee found only one of former President Donald Trump’s federal income tax returns was scrutinized by the IRS when he served as president.
The tax agency is technically mandated to conduct these examinations, according to a policy dating back to 1977. The report found during Trump’s time in office, the IRS only opened one “mandatory” audit, for his 2016 tax return, and only after the fall of 2019, when House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) sent a letter to the IRS asking for Trump’s tax information.
“The committee expected that these mandatory audits were being conducted promptly and in accordance with IRS policies. However, our review found that under the prior administration, the program was dormant,” Neal said at a press conference on Tuesday after the committee voted to make the former president’s tax returns public. “We know now, the first mandatory audit was opened two years into his presidency — on the same day this committee requested his returns.”
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The committee also made legislative recommendations to bolster the presidential audit program, including ensuring that the team auditing the president has the appropriate expertise and staffing.
Neal introduced legislation called the Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act of 2022, which would codify the current IRS policy into law. The House could vote on the legislation, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) praised in a Tuesday statement, as soon as Thursday.
“The Ways & Means Committee’s report makes clear the legislative steps that must now be taken to guard the public trust, and we will move swiftly to advance Chairman Richard Neal’s legislation requiring the Internal Revenue Service to conduct an annual audit of the President’s finances,” Pelosi said.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), who chairs the tax-writing committee in the Senate, said Wednesday that “the IRS was asleep at the switch” and that he would “push hard” to pass a similar bill in the Senate Finance Committee. Wyden is also pushing another bill called the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, which he first introduced in 2016. The legislation would require candidates running for president to disclose federal income tax returns for the three most recent taxable years in reports filed with either the Office of Government Ethics or the Federal Election Commission.
“It would require the nominee for president to do what everybody’s done for 40 years to disclose their taxes,” Wyden told reporters Wednesday.
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Republicans have decried the release of the tax returns, accusing Democrats of weaponizing the former president’s finances.
“I think that sets a very bad precedent,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), a member of the Senate Finance Committee.