From a column By Daniel Hemel in the Washington Post: Trump just gave the House a very good reason to look at his tax returns
Of course, anyone who has been following Trump-related tax news over the past several years should know by now that the president’s attitude toward tax compliance is cavalier, if not contemptuous. Still, seeing the president brag about bilking the IRS should shake every American who strives to fulfill her or his taxpaying obligations. Trump’s tweet is reminiscent of a remark attributed to Leona Helmsley, who, like Trump, inherited a New York real estate fortune, and who supposedly said that “only the little people pay taxes.” The difference is that Helmsley landed in prison, while Trump landed in the White House.
If the president won’t release his returns to the public, then the least we can demand is that a bipartisan panel review those filings and assure us that the president is not a tax scofflaw — and if he is, that the IRS isn’t letting him off the hook. Until then, ordinary Americans will have reason to wonder why they are working hard to fund a government whose leader seems to think that taxpaying is just for chumps.