House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal has said that the committee should move methodically to acquire President Trump's tax returns. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images Finance & Tax House panel set to kick off debate on presidential tax returns

A House panel next week will be the first to wade into Democrats' efforts to ensure that President Donald Trump and his successors release their tax returns, setting the stage for possible political and legal battles to come.

The House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee specifically called next Thursday’s hearing to discuss a legislative proposal that would require presidents, vice presidents and major party nominees for those offices to release a decade’s worth of tax returns.


But the hearing is likely to also touch on the Ways and Means Committee’s efforts to acquire and release Trump’s returns through current legal channels. Trump broke with four decades of precedent in 2016 when he refused to divulge his tax returns, citing ongoing audits, after at first saying he would disclose them.

Democrats vowed to seek Trump’s returns if they took over the House, and some progressives have been pressing Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) to be more aggressive in his efforts.

Neal, as chairman of a congressional tax committee, has the power to access anyone’s tax returns under a century-old law that’s rarely been invoked. But Neal has also consistently said that the committee should move methodically, because the administration is almost certain to mount a legal challenge to any attempt to acquire Trump’s returns.

The legislative proposal on presidential tax returns is part of the House Democrats’ ethics bill.

