Trump's taxes: House OKs bill on IRS audits of presidents

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House took action Thursday after disclosures that the IRS never fully reviewed Donald Trump’s tax returns during his presidency, passing a bill that would require audits of any president’s income tax filings. The legislation would turn what had been a long-standing post-Watergate norm into established federal policy.

The Democrat-led measure provides a capstone to a yearslong investigation of Trump's tenure as the first president in recent history not to disclose his tax returns to the public. The legislation faced staunch opposition from Republicans and has little chance of becoming law in the final days of this Congress. But it is seen as a starting point for future efforts to bolster oversight of the presidency.

“These improved guardrails will provide Americans the assurance they deserve that our tax code applies evenly and fairly to all of us, no matter how powerful,” said Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that led the effort.

The vote was approved 222-201, mostly along party lines.

The committee's top Republican, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, said the bill would infringe on taxpayer privacy. He said the “unprecedented action jeopardizes the rights of every American to be protected from political targeting.”

The committee's lengthy investigation revealed this week that the IRS had failed to pursue audits of Trump on a timely basis during his presidency, as required under the tax agency's protocol. Only when Democrats formally questioned the IRS on April 19, 2019, did the IRS begin its first review, two years into Trump's tenure.

The findings raised stark questions about Trump's insistence he could not publicly release his tax returns — as other presidents routinely have done to give people a glimpse into their...