Trump’s Tax Returns Can’t Be Obtained Without Consent, Judge Says
By Bob Van Voris
December 18, 2018, 9:57 AM CST Updated on December 18, 2018, 11:10 AM CST
Appeals court rules against Freedom of Information Act Request
Trump is first president since Nixon to withhold tax filings
President Donald Trump’s tax returns, which he has refused to make public, can’t be obtained by a non-profit organization using the Freedom of Information Act, the federal appeals court in Washington ruled.
The information is shielded by a taxpayer privacy law passed after President Richard Nixon tried to use the Internal Revenue Service to harass his political enemies, Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson said in an opinion Tuesday, upholding a lower-court ruling against a FOIA request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
With “certain limited exceptions†contained in the law, “no one can demand to inspect another’s tax records,†Henderson wrote, for a unanimous three-judge panel of the court.
Trump has insisted on keeping his tax returns confidential, going against a precedent first set when Nixon voluntarily disclosed his in 1974. Every president since then has allowed his tax filings to be made public.
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