Thread by @JuddLegum

1. Democrats have finally requested Trump's tax returns. There will be a lot of chatter about this in the days to come.

Here are some FACTS

2. The request is made to the Treasury Secretary. There is NOTHING in the law that gives the Trump administration the authority to reject the request.

The law says that Treasury Secretary "shall furnish" the returns to the committee

law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26…

3. This has been largely forgotten but Trump repeatedly promised to release his returns during the campaign.

4. If/When the administration complies with the request and gives Trump's returns to the Ways and Means Committee, they will be confidential. But the Committee can vote to share the returns with the entire House, making them public

taxprof.typepad.com/files/154tn101…

5. Whether or not Trump is under audit is irrelevant. It's actually less risky to make returns public that are already under audit. The primary risk of making your returns public is that it triggers an audit. If you are already under an audit, it's not an issue

6. Every president in the last 40 years has made their tax returns public.