Pascrell Cheers Tax Returns Lawsuit

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, praised the lawsuit filed by the Committee against the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, and IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig to compel the release of Donald Trump’s business and personal tax returns pursuant to Chairman Richard Neal’s request for them under his clear authority in 26 U.S.C. §6103(f).

“Litigation is always a last resort. We are here today because Donald Trump and his enablers have sneered at our laws and avoided the thinnest accountability for their corruption. The Ways and Means Committee must file this action to stand for rule of law. Despite Republicans’ efforts to cover-up, Americans cry out for oversight and voted in a new House to enforce that demand in November.

“The judiciary has been a bulwark against Trump’s steaming corruption and roughshod lawlessness. The law is as clear as fine crystal. I have no doubt our lower courts will side with Congress. We have been pursuing transparency of this man for a long time, and we won’t stop until we provide it for our country.”

Rep. Pascrell has been Congress’s most vocal proponent of releasing President Trump’s tax returns in order to reveal any potential conflicts of interest. Since February 2017, Pascrell has led the call for the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means to invoke Section 6103 of the tax code to obtain Trump’s tax returns. In the 115th Congress, Republicans voted 18 times to block Democratic resolutions seeking the tax returns.

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