Congress Building
Shutterstock

Trump Lawyers’ Compelling Argument for Blocking Tax Returns to Congress

Lawyers for former president Donald Trump made a compelling argument on Wednesday, urging a federal judge to block the Treasury Department and the IRS from giving his tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee.

Trump attorneys demonstrate legit reason Congress should not get his tax returns

Will a federal judge agree with the reasons attorneys for former president Donald Trump made for keeping his tax returns out of the hands of the House Ways and Means Committee?

The judge’s ruling is still pending, but lawyers for Trump certainly made a compelling argument that will give the court a lot to consider.

The court filing by Trump’s attorneys was submitted on Wednesday morning,” The Hill reported.

Unprecedented tax return request never made of any other elected official in history

“While House Democrats had offered countless justifications for obtaining the president’s tax returns, no one at the time had ever mentioned a desire to find out how the IRS audits presidents,” the attorneys for Trump said in the filing, NBC reported.

Trump lawyers pointed out that the legal authority invoked by Congress has never been used against a president, a former president or any elected official.

According to the attorneys, the request by the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman “bore little resemblance to an effort to investigate how the IRS audits presidents.”

“It asked for the information of only one president, asked for open files for which audits have not been completed, and never asked the IRS for the most relevant information — namely, how it audits presidents,” the lawyers wrote.

Further, the brief argued that the Treasury and IRS turning the former president’s tax returns over to Congress would be a violation of Trump’s privacy, as well as his First Amendment and other constitutional rights.

No legitimate purpose, politics-driven

“The requests are tailored to, and in practical operation will affect, only President Trump,” the filing reads. “The requests single out President Trump because he is a Republican and a political opponent. They were made to retaliate against President Trump because of his policy positions, his political beliefs, and his protected speech, including the positions he took during the 2016 and 2020 campaigns.”

The filing added that there was no legitimate legislative purpose to the request by Congress and it only was designed to “expose the private tax information of one individual — President Trump — for political gain.”