Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) warned against the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) accessing President Donald Trump’s tax returns, suggesting the action could lead to a “slippery slope” and hurt the privacy of Americans.
Reed, who is a member of the Ways and Means Committee, appeared on CNN this morning and told his House colleagues that “we have to be careful we are not going down a slippery slope of picking for political purposes someone’s tax returns for a political process.”
“We are not talking about anyone,” CNN’s Jim Sciutto replied. “We are talking about the leader of the free world, the president of the largest economy of the world following what has been an established protocol for decades by republican and democratic presidents.”
“I just wonder for you as a citizen who I assume pays his taxes, don’t you and I have a right to know whether our president pays taxes?” The host asked.
Reed continued his “slippery slope” argument, asking where Congress would “draw the line.”
“Why not just draw the line at the president?” Sciutto questioned. “Don’t Americans have a right to know whether their president pays taxes?”
The GOP lawmaker concluded that the Ways and Means chairman accessing the president’s tax returns is “a tremendous amount of power that cannot
“If it’s OK for the president and no one else, the next chairman could say, ‘How about my political adversary, the guy down the street I’m having a neighborhood dispute with?'” Reed theorized.
Trump has repeatedly promised to eventually release his tax returns over the past three years, often claiming he is delaying the release due to a supposed audit but never following through with the actual receipts.
Watch above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]