Tag Archives: Government

Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration | Ways and Means Committee – Democrats

Dec 30, 2022, Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC—The Ways and Means Committee voted to publicly release the Committee’s investigation of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Mandatory Audit Program under the prior administration.

The Committee’s investigation found the mandatory program was dormant, at best, with only one audit opened while the former President was in office, and none have been completed.

Excerpts from Chairman Neal’s opening statement:

“Ways and Means is entrusted with great responsibilities. Today, the weight of our job is heavy. Congress serves as a check on the Executive Branch, and our Committee is entrusted with oversight of our revenue system. We all come to Ways and Means with the goal of creating a fairer tax code. Because at the root of it all, it is our federal tax system that funds the democracy we all cherish and love.

Our voluntary collection relies on the public confidence that our tax laws are applied evenly and justly, regardless of position or power. For four years, the Committee has been reviewing how the IRS enforces the federal tax laws against, and ensures compliance by, a president.

“A president is no ordinary taxpayer. They hold power and influence unlike any other American. And with great power comes even greater responsibility.

“We are only here today because four years ago, our request to learn more about the program under 6103 was denied. This was the first time that this key oversight function was hampered, and our Committee’s jurisdiction was challenged.

“The Committee expected that these mandatory audits were being conducted promptly and in accordance with IRS policies. However, our review found that under the prior Administration the program was dormant. We know now, the first mandatory audit was opened two years into his presidency. On the same day this Committee requested his returns.

“We anticipated the IRS would expand the mandatory audit program to account for the complex nature of the former president’s financial situation yet found no evidence of that. This is a major failure of the IRS under the prior administration, and certainly not what we had hope to find.

“But the evidence is clear. Congress must step in. I’ve proposed legislation to put the program above reproach. Ensuring IRS conducts yearly, timely examinations while publicly disclosing certain information.

“Our work has always been to ensure our tax laws are administered fairly and without preference, because at times, even the power of a president can loom too large.”

Neal’s opening statement is available HERE.

The Committee’s report is available HERE, and JCT’s report (Attachment I) is available HERE.

Neal’s Presidential Tax Filings and Audit Transparency Act of 2022 (Attachment J).

Attachment A, Attachment B, Attachment C, Attachment D, Attachment EAttachment F, Attachment G, & Attachment H.

The vote to go into Executive Session was 23-16, and the vote to transmit the documents to the House was 24-16.

Editor’s Note: The attachments to the article contain Trump’s tax returns, the .zip file Attachment E. I’m posting that attachment online here.

Source: Ways and Means Committee Votes to Release Investigation of the IRS’s Mandatory Audit Program Under the Prior Administration | Ways and Means Committee – Democrats

“I Hope the Mindset Has Changed”: John Podesta Is Thrilled That Congress Finally Cares About UFOs | Vanity Fair

By Abigail Tracy, June 22, 2021

From The Washington Post/Getty Images. 

“I saw more eagles than UFOs,” John Podesta joked.

The former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and veteran of the Obama White House had just returned from a trip to Alaska and, speaking with me from California last Friday, shared his thoughts on the highly anticipated government report on unidentified flying objects, set to be released later this week.

Over the past few decades, Podesta has emerged as one of the most prominent public figures goading the Pentagon to disclose information on UFOs—or, in official channel parlance, “unidentified aerial phenomena” (UAP). In his view the report’s expected release marks a sea change in not only public sentiment, but political posturing around the issue.

“There’s always been tremendous public interest in this, but it was kind of pushed to the fringe. People were viewed as a little bit goofy if they wanted to raise the topic,” he explained. “Now I think that’s changed.”

Source: “I Hope the Mindset Has Changed”: John Podesta Is Thrilled That Congress Finally Cares About UFOs | Vanity Fair

How Trump’s impeachment stacks up, in four charts

By Zachary B. Wolf and Curt Merrill, CNN
Updated 9:08 PM ET, Wed December 18, 2019

“The bad news for Trump is that the party of every President who faced impeachment lost the next presidential election.”

https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/17/politics/impeachment-history-johnson-nixon-clinton-trump/index.html

Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch promote civics education – CBS News

Editor’s Note: This includes a link to the video…

Since civics was dropped from school curriculums, awareness of our constitutional government, and our participation in it, has declined markedly

View the video:
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-importance-of-civics-lessons/

Source: Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch promote civics education – CBS News