This Thursday during an interview, Republican Representative Rob Woodall fired back at Democrats who made requests for six years of President Trump’s tax returns.
The GOP representative and member of the House Budget Committee stated that a president shouldn’t be forced to release his tax records.
“We’re politicizing the tax system,” Woodall stated during an interview with Hill.TV. “Presidents have never been forced to release it, they volunteered to release those tax returns.”
Woodall also pointed out that the Ways and Means Committee is using their power to make calculated political moves.
“To see what the Ways and Means Committee is doing, now to use its article one power to weaponize the tax code is really disturbing,” he said.
Rep. Richard Neal previously requested President Trump’s tax returns. “The Ways and Means Committee, in particular, has a responsibility to conduct oversight of our voluntary Federal tax system and determine how Americans — including those elected to our highest office — are complying with those laws,” said Neal in a statement.
His move prompted Republicans to speak out against the request.
“Weaponizing our nation’s tax code by targeting political foes sets a dangerous precedent and weakens Americans privacy right,” Rep. Kevin Brady claimed. “As you know, all Americans have a fundamental right to the privacy of the personal information found in their tax returns.”
Woodall however, hopes that the issue will be something that will be resolved quickly and that the committee will continue to work on other important topics.
“I hope it is just a sign of this first quarter outrage and that we’ll quickly move past that and get into the things the Ways and Means Committee needs to be working on, like trade, like tax policy, like healthcare,” said Woodall.
There’s still no official date for when the IRS Commissioner will make his decision on releasing the returns, but the Treasury Department is already considering fighting the request in court.
