Happy Monday and welcome back to On The Money. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.
See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-stage.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://bit.ly/1NxxW2N.
Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-stage.thehill.com, njagoda@digital-stage.thehill.com and nelis@digital-stage.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane, @NJagoda and @NivElis.
THE BIG DEAL–Tax refunds through March down $6 billion from last year: The IRS issued about $6 billion less in refunds through March compared to a similar period last year, according to recent government data.
- The agency said it disbursed about $206.1 billion in refunds through March 29, a 2.9 percent decline from the $212.3 billion refunded though March 30, 2018.
- The number of returns the IRS has received and processed this year is also lower than a comparable period in 2018.
- The agency said it has issued about 1.6 million fewer refunds and has processed about 1.3 million fewer returns through March 29 than it had at a similar point last year.
- Refunds are down by an average of $20, and 79.4 percent of processed returns received a refund, compared with 80.1 percent through March 30 last year.
Why? Tax preparers say some people are taking longer to file their taxes because they want to make sure they understand how their financial situation was affected by President Trump’s 2017 tax law. The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda has more here.
ON TAP TOMORROW:
- House Appropriations subcommittees will hold hearings on funding requests for the Departments of the Treasury, Agriculture, Justice, along with the U.S. Army and IRS.
- The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing entitled “The Community Reinvestment Act: Assessing the Law’s Impact on Discrimination and Redlining,” 10 a.m.
- Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin testifies before the House Financial Services Committee on the state of the international financial system, 2:30 p.m.
The Hill’s Newsmaker Series: Tax Cuts and Small Business
Join us on Thursday, April 11th for The Hill’s Newsmaker Series: Tax Cuts and Small Business. The Hill’s Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack will sit down with Larry Kudlow, assistant to the president and director of the National Economic Council, to discuss the impact of the new tax law and examine policies the administration has put in place to help small business. RSVP here.
LEADING THE DAY
White House: Public and Congress have ‘no right to see’ Trump’s tax returns: White House spokesman Hogan Gidley on Monday ripped House Democrats’ effort to obtain President Trump’s tax returns, saying that the public and Congress have no right to see them.
“The public has no right to see those,” Gidley said on Fox News. “Congress definitely doesn’t have a right to see the tax returns of a private citizen. But also just think about the precedent that sets.”
“This was already litigated. It didn’t work for [Democrats] then,” Gidley continued, referring to Democrats’ calls for Trump to release his tax returns during the 2016 presidential campaign. “It’s not going to work now. It is an old talking point, it’s never going to work.” The Hill’s Justin Wise has more here.
Battle over Trump’s taxes heats up: Debate over whether and when Trump should release his tax returns dominated the Sunday show discussions, with surrogates on both sides kicking off what promises to be a lengthy public battle.
Democrats are defending the request from Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, to the IRS for six years of Trump’s tax returns. Neal made the request was under section 6103 of the federal tax code, which requires the IRS to furnish the president’s tax records upon request from the House and Senate tax-writing committees.
- “Just as President Trump promised as a candidate that he would share his tax returns. After he was elected he promised he would share his tax returns with the American people. And he’s refused to do so,” said Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M), assistant House speaker.
- “The unusual situation is not Congress using its authority to gain access legitimately under a very clear statute, the thing that’s unusual is that Donald Trump has broken 50 years — nearly 50 years of tradition by not being transparent with the American people,” said Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.), a member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Trump’s personal legal team has already urged the IRS not to release his taxes, arguing that the Justice Department needs to weigh in on the legality of the request. His attorneys and top allies echoed that argument Sunday.
- “This idea that you can use the IRS as a political weapon, which is what is happening here, is incorrect both as a matter of statutory law and constitutionally. We should not be in a situation where individual private tax returns are used for political purposes,” said Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow.
- Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Democrats will “never” see Trump’s taxes, “nor should they. 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.“
Even Republicans who said they’d like to see Trump’s tax returns mocked the Democratic request.
- Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said last week that he “would like to see” Trump’s taxes but later responded to Neal’s formal request for Trump’s returns by saying that it “must really suck to be that dumb” and accusing Neal of wanting “to screw with the president.”
- Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he wishes Trump would release his taxes but called the Democratic approach “moronic” and predicted that Trump will “win this victory.”
READ MORE: Five things to watch in Trump tax-return fight
NY bill would release Trump’s state returns: Democratic lawmakers in New York’s state legislature are set to introduce a bill allowing for the release of President Trump’s state tax returns, according to The New York Times.
The bill, slated to be introduced this week, would allow the commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state return requested by three U.S. congressional committee’s leaders for a “specific and legitimate legislative purpose,” according to the Times.
- New York laws currently prohibit the release of most private tax information. Under the bill, these laws would be amended, covering filings such as personal income taxes, real estate transfer taxes and corporation taxes, according to the Times.
- Albany lawmakers have introduced similar measures before, but legislators have raised concerns about the release of personal tax information.
- Democrats increased their hold on New York’s legislature after the 2018 midterms, which saw Republicans swept out of the state Senate.
GOOD TO KNOW
- The Federal Reserve Board on Monday proposed loosening key post-crisis rules on the largest U.S banks, igniting concerns that the proposal goes too far.
- Few Americans think they will pay less in taxes under President Trump’s 2017 law, according to a new survey, despite estimates that most people will get a tax cut.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, called for a federal ban on so-called right-to-work laws in a Monday speech.
- Trade Works for America, a group aiming to secure passage of President Trump’s new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, is running ads targeting four lawmakers.
ODDS AND ENDS
- Legalizing sports betting in many states hinges on support from Native American tribes, the Associated Press reports.
- The Trump administration has cancelled a four-month old deal between Major League Baseball and the Cuban Baseball Federation, saying it was an illegal deal with the Cuban government, according to the Washington Post.
- Op-Ed: Evan Kraft, the economist in residence for the Economics Department at American University, argues that Herman Cain and Stephen Moore “would bring Trump turmoil to the Fed’s doorstep.”