President Donald Trump won a victory Friday when the Justice Department said Congress does not have the right to see his tax returns.
More importantly, all American taxpayers won a victory, because the Justice Department memo regarding Trump’s returns has the effect of upholding the privacy and confidentially of all our tax returns as well.
If Congress is allowed to examine the president’s tax returns, the next step will be demands by lawmakers to examine the tax returns of others—political activists and opponents, members of unpopular groups, religious minorities, and who knows who else.
And if you think this isn’t possible, just think back to the FBI under Director J. Edgar Hoover and the files he kept on many Americans he considered to be dangerous subversives—including civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
Even if you can’t stand Trump and think he should be impeached, remember that giving government the power to act against someone you oppose also gives government the power to act against someone you support—or perhaps even against you personally.
Importantly, the provision of the tax code that Democrats are seeking to use to get Trump’s tax returns could also be used to get the tax returns of other Americans as well, should Trump lose his fight to keep his tax returns confidential.
The 33-page opinion protecting the confidentially of tax returns was written by Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel, who heads the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department. It is based on an appropriate reading of the law.
The Office of Legal Counsel is the office within Justice that provides legal advice to the president and all executive agencies, including on the proper interpretation of laws and the Constitution.
To no one’s surprise, Democrats are attacking the Justice Department memo as a political document designed to protect Trump.
Yet …read more
From:: Daily Signal – Feed