#charles rettig

[dadsinsuits]

Charles Rettig

[gwydionmisha]

Far-right advocacy group obtains tax-exempt status from IRS

Forty lawmakers sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and IRS commissioner Charles Rettig urging them to review the decision that designated the Family Research Council as an "association of churches." MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart speaks with one of those lawmakers, Representative Suzan DelBene, about why this tax-exempt status is problematic.

[midnightfunk]

Trump’s IRS chief earns over $100,000 per year from Trump property while in office: new documents

IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig has refused to release Trump’s tax returns despite a law requiring him to do so.

“Rettig has held a stake in the units since 2006, three years before the property opened. Rettig did not disclose the link to the Trump-branded property in the financial disclosure, simply listing them as "Residential Real Estate" and "Residential Real Estate (2)" in Honolulu.”

[dragoni]

President Trump’s hand-picked IRS Commissioner, Charles Rettig, earns as much as $1 million in rental income from the Trump-branded properties he co-owns while facing demands from Congress to release Trump’s tax returns.

— Citizens for Ethics @CREWcrew

Trump’s Man On The Inside At The IRS

“Charles Rettig is Running the Tax Agency for One Reason Only—To Keep His Boss’s Returns Locked Up”

“Rettig is a global-level specialist in helping the super wealthy get out of paying the taxes.”

No Audits for the Superrich: “Rettig is a master at attacking audits, finding flaws in investigations by our federal Tax Police so his clients can pay far  less than they owe. And he has attacked the very idea of auditing people who are very rich.“

“Would any experienced tax lawyer representing Trump in an I.R.S. audit advise him to publicly release his tax returns during the audit? Absolutely not.”

— Charles Rettig, Forbes Op Ed Feb. 2016 *** 4 months BEFORE Trump won the GOP nomination

[maturemenoftvandfilms]

Charles Rettig Born: November 18, 1956, Los Angeles, CA Height‎: ‎6’5" Physique: Husky Build

Charles P. Rettig is a tax controversy specialist and Commissioner of Internal Revenue. On September 12, 2018, the United States Senate confirmed Rettig’s nomination to be IRS commissioner for the term expiring November 12, 2022. Rettig was sworn in on October 1, 2018.

I’d like for him to personally handle my taxes. And by taxes, I mean my penis.

[sarcasticcynic]

Mnuchin reveals White House lawyers consulted Treasury on Trump tax returns, despite law meant to limit political involvement

The law allowing Congress to request returns was designed to exclude the White House from the decision-making process.

THE LAW

26 U.S.C. § 6103(f)(1) provides:

“Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives ... the Secretary [of the Treasury] shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, except that any return or return information which can be associated with, or otherwise identify, directly or indirectly, a particular taxpayer shall be furnished to such committee only when sitting in closed executive session...”

This law gives the Committee “the ability to obtain anyone’s tax returns even if the request was opposed by the White House.” The chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, Democrat Richard Neal, has submitted a formal written request to the Internal Revenue Service for some of Donald Trump’s tax returns. “The process is designed to be walled off from White House interference, in part because of corruption that took place during the Teapot Dome scandal in the 1920s.”

Nevertheless, the Treasury Department consulted directly with White House lawyers regarding compliance with this law. Trump’s lawyers subsequently sent a letter to the Department’s general counsel “telling him not to release the records.” And Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting Chief of Staff, publicly declared that Neal “would never obtain the tax returns.” The Treasury Department thereafter did not comply with the written request of the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives.

Trump’s hand-picked Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, told Congress that “Treasury officials did not seek the White House’s ‘permission’ as to whether to release the tax returns,” and that he “did not view the meeting as ‘interference.’” How very reassuring. So it’s just pure coincidence that he’s doing exactly what his boss wants instead of following the law.

THE PENALTY

26 U.S.C. § 7214(a)(3) provides:

“Any officer or employee of the United States acting in connection with any revenue law of the United States ...  who with intent to defeat the application of any provision of this title fails to perform any of the duties of his office or employment ... shall be dismissed from office or discharged from employment and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.”

But don’t hold your breath waiting for Trump’s hand-picked Attorney General to follow that law either.

BONUS IDIOCY

Mulvaney is still spewing the usual line of bullshit to which Trump and his sycophants always resort when discussing anything Trump did or did not do before the 2016 election: claiming it’s irrelevant because he won anyway.

“Keep in mind that that’s an issue that was already litigated during the election. Voters knew the president could have given his tax returns, they knew that he didn’t, and they elected him anyway, which is, of course, what drives the Democrats crazy.”

Mulvaney squeezed two lies into one sentence:

“Voters”--that is, the people of the United States of America, not the Electoral College--overwhelmingly voted against Donald Trump. Trump still won fair and square, but claiming that his election reflects “the will of the people” is totally and completely false.

Leaving that aside: Before the election, Trump repeatedly promised that he would eventually release his tax returns. It was not until April of 2017 that he finally admitted he had “no intention” of releasing them. And in the next election--the 2018 midterms--“voters” elected Democrats with the right to demand Trump’s returns.

CAVEAT

“Shall” is ordinarily mandatory:

“In common, or ordinary parlance, and in its ordinary signification, the term ‘shall’ is a word of command, and one which has always, or which must be given a compulsory meaning; as denoting obligation. It has a peremptory meaning, and it is generally imperative or mandatory. It has the invariable significance of excluding the idea of discretion, and has the significance of operating to impose a duty which may be enforced.”

But not always, according to the United States Supreme Court in Cairo & F. R. Co. v. Hecht, 95 U.S. 168, 170, 24 L.Ed. 708 (1877):

“As against the government, the word ‘shall,’ when used in statutes, is to be construed as ‘may,’ unless a contrary intention is manifest.”

[thedreadpiratejames]

IRS Commissioner Charged with Releasing Trump Tax Returns Profits from Trump-Branded Property - CREW

Charles Rettig earns as much as $1 million in rental income from the Trump-branded properties he co-owns while facing demands to release Tru

[dadsinsuits]

Charles Rettig