White House maneuvers to block release of Trump’s tax returns

The 1924 law does not appear to give the White House any input into whether the IRS furnishes an individual’s tax returns. In fact, the law was written in part to give Congress the ability to scrutinize the tax returns of executive branch officials to investigate conflicts of interest or other potential improprieties because of the Teapot Dome scandal in the early 1920s.

Trump and Sanders in recent days have asserted that because the tax returns are under audit, they will not be released. But Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen told a congressional committee earlier this year that Trump’s taxes were never under audit and that he simply didn’t want any scrutiny over his financial dealings.

“What he didn’t want is to have an entire group of think tanks that are tax experts run through his tax return and start ripping it to pieces, and then he’ll end up in an audit, and he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties and so on,” Cohen said, adding, “I presume that he is not under audit.”