(Bloomberg) -- Incoming Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal has tapped a legislation counsel for the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation to be his point person for what could be one of the most contentious battles next year: the fight for President Donald Trump's tax returns.
Andrew Grossman, who's worked for the JCT since 2011, will serve as the Ways and Means Committee's chief tax counsel and advise Neal on tax issues, according to a person familiar with the plan.
The heads of the House and Senate tax-writing committees have the authority to request any individual tax return, including the president's, from the Treasury secretary. Trump departed from roughly 40 years of tradition for presidential candidates by refusing to release his tax returns during the 2016 campaign. The forms, or some of the information they contain, could effectively become public if the committees vote to release them.
Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat, has said he doesn't yet have a timeline for requesting the returns and is making sure Democrats meet all the legal requirements beforehand.
The lawmaker has also said he plans to probe the effectiveness of the GOP's 2017 tax law by holding hearings. Large-scale changes to the law are unlikely to pass in the coming year since Republicans maintain control of the Senate.
Grossman, who declined to comment, was previously an associate at law firm Skadden and received his law degree from New York University, according to his LinkedIn profile.
To contact the reporter on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alexis Leondis at aleondis@bloomberg.net, Gregory Mott
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