Republican Rep. Tom Reed in a statement on Wednesday blasted Democrats for seeking to gain access to President Donald Trump’s tax returns, calling the move a “dangerous precedent” if successful.
The House Ways and Means Committee is using a little-known law in order to gain access to the president’s tax returns, seeking up a potentially protracted fight over executive power with the White House.
In New York, lawmakers have introduced legislation that would enable House Democrats to receive the president’s New York filing as well. State lawmakers have also introduced legislation that would force the release of Trump’s New York tax returns for the last several years.
But Reed, a Republican from the Southern Tier region, said such efforts undermine privacy rights.
“Many Democrats began thinking of impeachment the day after Donald Trump won the 2016 election, and this is just the next step in process,” Reed said. “If the Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee are successful, this will set a dangerous precedent. What will stop future Members of Congress from targeting future political foes, or even their neighbor down the street, and requesting their tax returns?”
Trump has broken with a modern political era of tradition dating back to Richard Nixon that an incumbent president’s taxes be made available for review.
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