Trump’s tax returns wouldn’t be ‘silver bullet’ for Dems, says conservative financial expert

Conservative financial expert Mattie Duppler said on Tuesday that President Trump’s tax returns would not be a “silver bullet” for Democrats if they are publicly released. 

“I think that the House Ways and Means [Committee] is well within their jurisdiction to talk about IRS audit protocols and whether or not they’re being followed, but that’s not the question that they’re after. That’s why they’re after these tax returns, and that’s why they’re going to get stonewalled,” Duppler, a senior fellow at the National Taxpayers Union, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”

“Frankly, I don’t think this is the silver bullet that Democrats think it is,” she continued. “This will go to the courts. This will be relitigated and relitigated.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday rejected a request from Democrats on Ways and Means for Trump’s tax returns. 

The response from Mnuchin, which was expected, is likely to tee up a court battle, given that Democrats are expected to continue to push for the returns. 

Duppler says the Democratic push for tax returns could hurt the party in 2020 and make it look out of touch to most voters. 

“There probably won’t be an answer until 2020, and if there is, it doesn’t benefit the Democrats at all, who think that talking about tax returns really is helpful for them from an election standpoint,” she said. 

“Most Americans, I think, are like Buck, who say, like, the tax returns make me go to sleep,” she said. 

— Julia Manchester