Washington: The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the imminent handover of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns to a congressional committee after a three-year legal fight.
The court, with no noted dissent, rejected Trump’s plea for an order that would’ve prevented the treasury department from giving six years of tax returns for Trump & some of his businesses to the democratic – controlled House Ways & Means Committee. Alone among recent presidents, Trump refused to release his tax returns either during his successful 2016 campaign or his four years in the White House, citing what he said was an ongoing audit by the IRS.
Lower courts agreed that the committee had broad authority to obtain tax returns & rejected Trump’s claims that it was overstepping & only wanted the documents so they could be made public. In a message on his social media network, Trump said the SC’s action created “terrible precedent for future Presidents .”
It was Trump’s second loss at the Supreme Court in as many months, & third this year. In October, the court refused to step into the legal fight surrounding the FBI search of Trump’s Florida estate that turned up classified documents. In the dispute over his tax returns, the treasury department had refused to provide the records during Trump’s presidency. But the Biden administration said federal law is clear that the panel has the right to examine any taxpayer’s return, including the president’s.
