Justice Department re Trump’s Taxes -OMG the slip opinion -Trump Taxes MUST be turned over
Anyone, I mean anyone on Twitter saying “we get to see Trump’s taxes” they are lying to you. NO WE DO NOT if the taxes are unlawfully leaked that person would face criminal charges. See last paragraph
Earlier today the Washington Post Reported - Congress should get Trump’s tax returns, Justice Department says - but the details were fairly scant… the article reads in part:
While he was president, Trump successfully beat back efforts by the House Ways & Means Committee to see his tax returns, including a battle in federal court. But the new opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said the committee’s request is valid and should be fulfilled.
House Democrats had sought eight years of the president’s tax returns, and federal law gives the Ways & Means Committee broad authority to get an individual’s tax information.
The Biden Justice Department has concluded that seeking Trump’s taxes serves “a legitimate legislative purpose.”
As you’ll note the original Washington Post article doesn’t reference the OLC Slip Opinion and it certainly doesn’t link to it…
July 30, 2021 DOJ-OLC Slip Opinion Trump Taxes
And in general I do not, and I mean never withhold public documents from my readers/followers and within 25 seconds of seeing the alert I was able to locate the DOJ-OLC Slip Opinion
https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download
…Section 6103(f)(1) of title 26, U.S. Code, vests the congressional tax committees with a broad right to receive tax information from the Department of the Treasury. It embodies a long-standing judgment of the political branches that the tax committees are uniquely suited to receive such information…
When one of the congressional tax committees requests tax information pursuant to section 6103(f)(1), and has invoked facially valid reasons for its request, the Executive Branch should conclude that the request lacks a legitimate legislative purpose only in exceptional circumstances. The Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has invoked sufficient reasons for requesting the former President’s tax information.
Under section 6103(f)(1), Treasury must furnish the information to the Committee.
MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE ACTING GENERAL COUNSE DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
there it is -in all of its beautiful glory:
Section 6103(f)(1), at issue here, provides that the Secretary of the Treasury (“Secretary”) “shall furnish” such information to any of the three congressional tax committees—the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the Joint Committee on Taxation—“[u]pon written request from the chairman” of one of those committees.
In April 2019, Representative Richard Neal, the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means (“Committee”), cited section 6103(f) in a written request to the IRS to provide the Committee with the preceding six years of then-President Donald Trump’s individual tax…
OLC RIPS IRS and Sec Mnuchin to shreds…
..also sought IRS audit histories and work-papers associated with each return, explaining that the Committee was “considering legislative proposals and conducting oversight related to our Federal tax laws, including . . . the extent to which the IRS audits and enforces the Federal tax laws against a President.
…this Office provided Treasury a more detailed opinion explaining our earlier advice. Congressional Committee’s Request for the President’s Tax Returns Under 26 U.S.C. § 6103(f), 43 Op. O.L.C. __ (June 13, 2019) (“2019 Opinion”). The 2019 Opinion reasoned that Congress lacks constitutional authority to compel the Executive Branch to provide information to a congressional committee, even when a statute vests the committee with a right to the information, unless the information would serve a legitimate legislative purpose…
…we conclude that Treasury must furnish the information specified in the June 2021 Request to the Committee…
JULY 30, 2021 DOJ-OLC Slip Opinion
“ample basis” totally excoriated the 2019 opinion…
…The 2019 Opinion went astray, however, in suggesting that the Executive Branch should closely scrutinize the Committee’s stated justifications for its requests in a manner that failed to accord the respect and deference due a coordinate branch of government
The 2019 Opinion also failed to give due weight to the fact that the Committee was acting pursuant to a carefully crafted statute that reflects a judgment by the political branches, going back nearly a century, that the congressional tax committees should have special access to tax information given their roles in overseeing the national tax system…
…ample basis to conclude that its June 2021 Request for former President Trump’s tax information would further the Committee’s principal stated objective of assessing the IRS’s presidential audit program—a plainly legitimate area for congressional inquiry and possible legislation…
Yes Madam Speaker YES
We do NOT get to see his taxes. Period. Full Stop
And lastly I need to be very clear — any and I mean any Twitter account that tweets in ALL CAPS that “we get to see Trump’s taxes” that account is completely wrong, misinformed and they are intentionally spreading both disinformation and misinformation.
Government officials with access to tax information thus may not disseminate it without authorization. A willful unauthorized disclosure is a felony, see id. § 7213(a)(1)–(2), and any government official or other specified person who willfully inspects tax information without authorization commits a misdemeanor, id. § 7213A. The law also provides for civil liability for certain impermissible disclosures. Id. § 7431(a).
Nothing and I mean nothing in the current IRS laws allows for the public release of Trump’s taxes —in fact if the House Ways and Means, unlawfully release Trump’s taxes that person will face criminal charges. I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear but those are the facts and anyone who suggests otherwise is completely uninformed and they are intentionally misleading their followers. Because that’s what emotional terrorist do, they enjoy screwing with people’s heads. So if you see people tweeting this nonsense feel free to send them the following factual links
July 30, 2021 DOJ-OLC Slip Opinion https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1419111/download
June 13, 2019 DOJ-OLC Slip Opinion https://www.justice.gov/olc/file/1173756/download
§7213(a)(1)–(2), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2015-title26/pdf/USCODE-2015-title26-subtitleF-chap75-subchapA-partI-sec7213.pdf
Again I’m sorry if that’s not what you want to hear but those are the facts and it’s completely messed up that some on Twitter are intentionally inflicting emotional abuse on their followers, by falsely saying “we get to see Trump’s taxes” —but those are the actual facts —not some bombastic nonsensical tweet. -Filey
This was a delightful read. Especially the matter-of-fact way in which the 2021 DOJ exorciated the 2019 DOJ’s OLC opinions.
I was curious why it’s called a SLIP opinion:
“A few days after the bench opinion is issued through Hermes, the Court makes available a "slip opinion", so called because originally these hot-off-the-press opinions appeared on "slips" which could be inserted in printed volumes until the new, bound version of the opinions appeared.”
Duh... lol
I'm still doing a happy dance, even if I never get to see them. Yee Haw!!!!