IRS must provide Trump's tax returns to Ways and Means Committee, appeals court rules

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Internal Revenue Service must hand over former President Donald Trump's tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee.

A three-judge panel, two members of which were appointed by Republican presidents, rejected arguments from Trump's lawyers that the committee's request was politically motivated and "would pose First Amendment and separations of powers concerns," according to The Hill.

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, initially requested Trump's tax returns in 2019 but was blocked by the then-president's Justice Department. When President Biden took over, the Justice Department ordered the IRS to comply with the committee's request. Trump responded by filing the motion that the appeals court rejected on Tuesday.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Liberal PAC MediasTouch tweeted that it had been "[q]uite the 24 hours for Trump," citing the Mar-a-Lago raid, the appeals court decision, and reports that Trump's former real estate appraiser had turned over nearly 36,000 documents to the New York attorney general's office after being held in contempt last month.

The documents will be used to investigate whether Trump broke the law by inflating the value of his assets and could lead to a civil suit against the former president.