Democrats Use Tax Day to Tackle Trump

With President Trump at the helm of government, Tax Day has new meaning this year -- especially for Democrats. Through social media, legislative action and actual street protest, Trump’s opponents hope to remind Americans this April 15th that they still haven’t seen the vast majority of the president’s business and tax history. Democrats argue that Trump’s tax records could reveal questionable business practices and conflicts of interest likely to concern the American public.

Since taking over the White House, President Trump has argued that his election victory is evidence that voters aren’t concerned with his tax history. During his election campaign, Trump maintained that he was under an IRS audit, and therefore wouldn’t release the documents, though every major party candidate had done so for several decades.

Now democrats are taking a move from the president’s own playbook -- this Tax Day, they’re taking to twitter.

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) tweeted directly to Trump, with this proposition:

.@realdonaldtrump if this gets 18 million retweets, will you release your tax returns?

— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) April 12, 2017

The Senator’s effort attracted attention and support but didn’t break out of the tens-of-thousands, though he continues his push. Wyden is the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee where he’s pushed to establish a bipartisan group that would review Trump’s tax returns in private. So far, he’s been rebuffed by Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

In the House of Representatives, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and her colleagues are hoping to force the president’s hand: earlier this month they introduced a discharge petition for the Presidential Tax Transparency Act. By House rules, such a move would force an open floor debate -- if it were to garner the signatures of a majority of lawmakers. That’s not likely, considering the GOP holds control of the House.

Thousands of people are expected to demonstrate on April 15th in San Francisco, Washington, DC and other cities, demanding the release of Trump’s tax documents. Leader Pelosi plans to join the march in her San Francisco district, while Senator Wyden, along with Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) are scheduled to speak at the Tax Day march at the U.S. Capitol.

Should Democrats continue efforts to release President Trump's tax returns? Tell your lawmaker what you think!

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- Matt Laslo

(Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue via Flickr / Creative Commons)