Trump’s refusal to release tax returns fuels suspicion

President Donald J. Trump’s mouthpiece was too clever by half – a trait she obviously learned from her boss – when she brushed off demands by Democratic members of Congress for his tax returns.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told “Fox News Sunday” lawmakers aren’t “smart enough” to assess the documents.

Indeed, Trump has contended that his tax filings are too complex for people to understand.

The only reason tax returns are as complicated as the president and his spokeswoman suggest is when the filer has something to hide.

That’s why Congress – and by extension, the American people – have a right to examine Trump’s personal and business filings.

But given the refusal by the self-proclaimed billionaire real-estate developer from New York City to come clean with his finances – as numerous previous presidents have done – a court battle is in the offing.

House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., has given the IRS until April 23 to deliver six years of Trump’s tax returns.

Neal had requested the documents earlier this month from IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig, but Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin responded that the agency could not comply. Munuchin also said that he would be discussing the matter further with Justice Department lawyers.

Trump laid out the justification for his intransigence during the 2016 presidential election. He said the IRS is auditing his tax returns and, therefore, is prohibited from releasing them.

He has stuck to that story as president.

It was a spurious claim then, and it’s a spurious claim today. The IRS says an audit doesn’t bar public release.

Congressman Neal and other Democrats on Capitol Hill contend the IRS has failed to produce Trump’s tax returns despite an “unambiguous legal obligation to do so” under Section 6103 of the tax code.

The “committee access” provision, as it is known, became law in 1924 when Congress had been dealing with taxpayers’ information in the Teapot Dome scandal, according to a story aired by National Public Radio.

The scandal afflicted the administration of President Warren G. Harding of Ohio as a result of controversy involving former Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon.

Like President Trump, Mellon refused to avoid conflicts of interest by letting go of his business holdings, NPR reported.

Trump has refused to divest himself of businesses and investments that could pose domestic or international conflicts of interest.

“For example, the Trump International Hotel, located just blocks from the White House, regularly hosts events with foreign diplomats, interest groups and industry associations,” the NPR story stated.

TRUMP IS SOLE SOURCE

Here’s an important point that underlies Congress’ demand for the president’s tax returns going back six years: He is the source of all the information the American people have about his business dealings in this country and around the world.

Indeed, there has been no independent confirmation of his claim that he’s worth $10 billion and that he’s a highly successful businessman. However, what is known through public documents is that four of his companies filed for bankruptcy.

Two years ago, when Democrats in Congress asked for records detailing Trump’s separation from his businesses, they received a glossy pamphlet and a single email, according to the Associated Press.

“When they asked how the Trump Organization arrived at the $151,470 in profits paid back to the Treasury for foreign stays at his hotels, they got silence,” the AP reported.

Thus, when Press Secretary Sanders contends that members of Congress aren’t “smart enough” to assess the president’s tax returns, we have to wonder what liberties have been taken with the tax code to give him an advantage.

Unlike most American taxpayers, Trump has legions of financial advisers who undoubtedly ensure he pays as little tax as possible.

In addition to denigrating Democratic lawmakers’ brain power with regard to understanding Trump’s tax returns, Press Secretary Sanders said she doesn’t trust members of Congress to “look through decades of success that the president has and determine anything.”

Here’s a reality check for members of the executive branch who look down their noses at the legislative branch: The Founding Fathers created a system of checks and balances to ensure that the United States of America does not become a dictatorship.

Indeed, the battle over President Trump’s refusal to follow the law when it comes to the IRS handing over his tax returns brings to mind a comment made by Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox, who was fired in October 1973 by President Richard Nixon:

“Whether ours shall continue to be a government of laws and not of men is now for Congress and ultimately the American people to decide.”