The lame-duck, Democrat-controlled House passed a bill Thursday mandating annual reviews, or audits, of a sitting president's tax returns — a move that comes on the heels of former President Donald Trump's tax returns being leaked to the media (covering 2015-2020).
The Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act, which might soon bear the informal moniker of "The Trump Rule," passed largely along party lines (222-201).
Thursday's bill follows reported "revelations" that the Internal Revenue Service did not audit Trump's taxes for two of his four years in office.
The IRS declined to audit Trump's taxes in 2017 and 2018, according a House Ways and Means Committee report.
This week on Twitter, there were various reports revealing Trump's tax returns over a six-year period, with the billionaire claiming a loss from 2015-17 and also in 2020.
The gains took place in 2018 and 2019, when Trump was in office, but also covered the period when he had largely been divested from his previous business interests.
Trump donated his monthly salary every year in the White House.
Active presidents are not constitutionally required to submit their annual tax returns. It's merely been an acknowledged custom with the IRS.
Thursday's House bill would enshrine the IRS' in-house policy into federal law, according to the Washington Examiner.
Trump stands as the first-ever "billionaire" president. In that vein, the financial statements of previous presidents likely never included complicated transactions involving millions of dollars.
Outgoing Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., reportedly asked the IRS commissioner for Trump's tax returns during his presidency, but was rebuffed until 2019.
That exchange might have fueled Neal and other House leaders mandating the IRS audit "entities controlled by the president," along with disclosing a sitting president's taxes within three months of filing.
"The IRS has failed to administer its own mandatory audit program policies, so the best available recourse is for Congress to fill this void with legislation that eliminates the IRS' discretion in the matter. That's what we are doing today," said Neal, while addressing other House members in a floor speech.
Last week, House Ways and Means Committee members obtained Trump's federal tax returns for the six-year period, following a Supreme Court decision from last month.
A large number of House Republicans condemned the move to release Trump's returns, warning it could lead to unintended consequences among Democrats.
Republicans will take over the House on Jan. 3 after claiming the majority in the recently completed midterm elections.
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