美国国家公共电台 NPR--A House panel votes to publicly release a report on Trump's tax returns

A House panel votes to publicly release a report on Trump¹'s tax returns

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Democratic Rep. Don Beyer about former President Donald Trump's tax records. Beyer sits on the House Committee on Ways and Means that voted Tuesday to release the documents.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines to publicly release six years of former President Donald Trump's tax returns. The committee's investigation³ also revealed the IRS failed to audit⁴ the former president during his first two years in office, despite a program that makes those audits⁵ mandatory⁶. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman⁷ Don Beyer of Virginia. He sits on the Ways and Means Committee. Good morning, Congressman. Thank you for being on the program.

DON BEYER: Good morning, Leila. Thank you very much for the invitation.

FADEL: So let's start with why this is important, to release the former president's tax records, at this point, to the public.

BEYER: You know, this is - one of the things that was established back during the Teapot Dome⁸ scandal, you know, a hundred years ago, was that there's a Section 6103 in the law where the Congress can - the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee can actually request individual tax returns. And this was necessary, we believe, you know, four years ago when Chairman Neal initiated¹⁰ the request because Donald Trump was the first president since Richard Nixon not to release his tax returns, despite promising¹¹ to do so. And there was an enormous question about whether the IRS was following the mandatory audit procedure. And of course, what we found out is that they weren't.

FADEL: Why? Do you know why that happened?

BEYER: Well, you know, it's really discouraging. We got six different tax returns ultimately, after a 3 1/2-year court battle, and they didn't initiate⁹ - they skipped the first two years completely. And on the third one, they only initiated the audit the day Richard Neal's letter from Congress was received. And even that - we discovered they put exactly one IRS agent on this hugely complex tax return, so it is understaffed, underresourced. And we end up, when you read the report, with so many unanswered questions.

FADEL: Are there consequences for these audits not happening, or could there be consequences?

BEYER: I don't think so. I hope the biggest consequence is the American public realizes it makes much more sense not to starve the IRS. You know, that right now, you know, it's difficult to get a phone call answered or a letter responded to. We also find out that they aren't doing their job auditing¹² the president's tax returns. So and, of course, the basic principle here is that no one should be above the law.

FADEL: Now, releasing, publicly, tax returns has been a tradition since Nixon, and your Republican colleagues have been very critical of this party line vote, saying it's a breach¹³ of privacy. I mean, is that criticism founded?

BEYER: I don't think so. First of all, this is - this particular president was one who sought as much publicity¹⁴ as possible his entire life. And we are - the returns themselves we didn't release last night because we were going to be very careful in a bipartisan way to redact any personal information - Social Security numbers and addresses and things like that. And the basic part - you know, my Republican friends yesterday kept saying, this sets a terrible precedent¹⁵.

FADEL: Right.

BEYER: Well, this is exactly the precedent they used back in 2014 when they were going after the IRS. It was used with Richard Nixon back in the early '70s. And the notion that we're going to go after private citizens is just silly. You know, Donald Trump was president of the United States, not an average private citizen.

FADEL: Does what the Ways and Means Committee - this investigation - does it set any precedent, new precedent, on what presidents should do with their tax records, with their tax returns?

BEYER: Well, we hope so. In fact, one of the interesting things yesterday, Leila, was most people on the panel, Democrats¹⁶ and Republicans, said, yes, let's make this the law rather than IRS rule. Let's just say this is what all presidents have to do moving forward. And, of course, you know that a number of states are working or have passed laws that says you can't be on the ballot¹⁷ in 2024 unless you released your tax returns.

FADEL: Why is it important to share this, to be transparent¹⁸ about this?

BEYER: Well, we just - I don't want to pick on President Trump particularly, but we know that he has business dealings all over the world. I wasn't - as I looked through the returns, I couldn't tell how much money he owed other countries or other governments. But that's relevant when you have, you know, major important decisions to make and a person to trust that their decisions with other countries are going to be based on the national good rather than their own personal welfare.

FADEL: Now, during your investigation, did you have access to all the information that you needed?

BEYER: No. And in fact, one of the biggest takeaways I got - I looked through all six years of returns, and this is a summary in the report, is there's a - I ended up $280 million worth of unsubstantiated deductions¹⁹, you know, loss carried forward, deductions for costs of sales when there - it wasn't clear that anything was even being sold. But none of the supporting documentation was there. And of course, our criticism was, boy, if you had a thorough IRS audit, you'd want to dive deep on these things.

FADEL: Democratic Congressman Don Beyer, thanks so much for your time.

BEYER: Yeah, thank you, Leila.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

4 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

5 audits   

n.审计，查账( audit的名词复数 )v.审计，查账( audit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Requires that use of all bond funds is subject to independent audits. 需要使用的所有债券基金是受独立审计。 来自互联网
• Support the locations during customer-visits, audits and quality-improvement programs. 支持客户参观，稽核和提高品质等项目。 来自互联网

6 mandatory   

adj.命令的；强制的；义务的；n.受托者

参考例句：

• It's mandatory to pay taxes.缴税是义务性的。
• There is no mandatory paid annual leave in the U.S.美国没有强制带薪年假。

7 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

8 dome   

n.圆屋顶，拱顶

参考例句：

• The dome was supported by white marble columns.圆顶由白色大理石柱支撑着。
• They formed the dome with the tree's branches.他们用树枝搭成圆屋顶。

9 initiate   

vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入

参考例句：

• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar.语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。
• They wanted to initiate a discussion on economics.他们想启动一次经济学讨论。

10 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

11 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

12 auditing   

n.审计，查账，决算

参考例句：

• Auditing standards are the rules governing how an audit is performed.收支检查标准是规则统治一个稽核如何被运行。
• The auditing services market is dominated by a few large accounting firms.审计服务市场被几家大型会计公司独占了。

13 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

14 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

15 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

16 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

18 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

19 deductions   

扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演

参考例句：

• Many of the older officers trusted agents sightings more than cryptanalysts'deductions. 许多年纪比较大的军官往往相信特务的发现，而不怎么相信密码分析员的推断。
• You know how you rush at things,jump to conclusions without proper deductions. 你知道你处理问题是多么仓促，毫无合适的演绎就仓促下结论。