What the rest of the world already knew

Trump has refused to turn over his tax returns but has not invoked executive privilege. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has instead denied the returns by arguing there is no legislative purpose for demanding them.

But according to [a confidential Internal Revenue Service legal] memo, which has not been previously reported, the disclosure of tax returns to the committee “is mandatory, requiring the Secretary to disclose returns, and return information, requested by the tax-writing Chairs.”

The 10-page document says the law “does not allow the Secretary to exercise discretion in disclosing the information provided the statutory conditions are met” and directly rejects the reason Mnuchin has cited for withholding the information.

[...]

The IRS said the memo, titled “Congressional Access to Returns and Return Information,” was a draft document written by a lawyer in the Office of Chief Counsel and did not represent the agency’s “official position.” The memo is stamped “DRAFT,” it is not signed, and it does not reference Trump.

[...]

[The memo states] that the “only basis the agency’s refusal to comply with a committee’s subpoena would be the invocation of the doctrine of executive privilege.”

  WaPo

How would executive privilege apply?

Executive privilege is sometimes divided into two types, each with its own justification. The first [is] sometimes referred to as “presidential communications privilege,”

[...]

In United States v. Nixon, the most high-profile executive privilege case ever decided by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren Burger (writing for a unanimous Court) concluded that there is a “presumptive privilege for Presidential communications” that is “fundamental to the operation of Government and inextricably rooted in the separation of powers under the Constitution.”

  Vox

Nope. His tax reeturns are not presidential communications.

The other type of executive privilege, referred to by Judge Patricia Wald of the DC Circuit in an important 1997 case as “deliberative process privilege,” comes [...] from the common-law notion that government officials should be free to privately deliberate before deciding on a particular course of action.

This privilege is both broader in applicability than the presidential communications privilege — since it can apply to conversations within the executive branch that don’t involve the president directly — and more limited in its strength. It only applies to documents and discussions when a decision was being made.

Nope. Not tax returns.

I don't get it.