The DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service must turn over Donald Trump’s taxes to the House Ways and Means Committee.
In 2019, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal requested Trump’s taxes be turned over to the committee under a law that allows disclosure of an individual’s tax returns to the committee, according to CNN. But the Trump administration refused to comply to with the request.
Last year, under the Biden administration, the Justice Department decided to comply with Congress and requested that the case filed by Neal compelling the IRS to turn over Trump’s taxes be dismissed.
District Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump appointee granted the request to dismiss the case last December, prompting Trump’s appeal to the DC Circuit.
In a 3-0 ruling the judges on the appeals court said Congress has a right to get the documents they requested.
Circuit Judge David Sentelle said Neal’s request for Trump’s taxes was within the scope of his committee’s inquiry, and the court also rejected Trump’s argument claiming that the request had a retaliatory motive, making it invalid.
“The Trump Parties have failed to state a claim for the reason that they cannot show that Treasury’s decision to comply with the 2021 Request would not have happened absent a retaliatory motive,” Sentelle wrote. “The statute provides that ‘the Secretary shall furnish,’ the requested information to the Committee upon written request. When the Committee makes a request that is within its authority to make, i.e., within Congress’s investigative power, the Secretary does not have a choice as to whether to provide the information.”
Trump has seven days to appeal the decision.
