Dozens of House Democrats have proposed legislation that would force the IRS to confirm whether it is actively auditing Donald Trump.
The IRS has said current rules prevent it from talking about individual tax issues. But Democrats say Trump is lying about the audit, and is using it as an excuse not to release his tax returns in time for the November election, as candidates have done for decades.
As a result, Democrats say the IRS needs to be required to confirm whether major party candidates are being audited.
The new bill from Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and 41 other Democrats would make that change.
“The American people deserve to evaluate their options in a presidential election fully informed about the candidates’ financial ties, yet the current system allows candidates to provide what could be a trumped-up excuse for hiding their tax returns by claiming a pending IRS audit, whether or not that is actually happening,” Huffman said Thursday.
The bill seems clearly aimed at Trump, even though Huffman never mentioned his name (aside from his reference to ‘trumped-up’ excuses). Huffman indicated that he and other Democrats believe Trump is outright lying about his IRS audit.
“My legislation would close this ‘liar’s loophole’ by requiring the IRS to disclose whether a presidential candidate is subject to any pending tax audits,” he said. “The stakes of a presidential election are too high to allow a candidate to hide from disclosing their tax returns by giving an excuse that cannot even be verified under current law.”
In addition to requiring the IRS to confirm whether major candidates are being audited, the bill would also require those candidates to note that they are being audited in the financial disclosure forms that they file.
Read Huffman’s bill here:
