Trump picks defender to head US tax collection agency

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Charles Rettig -- a lawyer who backed the president's decision to keep his tax returns private -- to be head of the top US tax collection agency.

The White House said Trump would nominate the Beverly Hills tax attorney to be "Commissioner of Internal Revenue for a term of seven years beginning 11/12/17," a statement read.

Rettig's extensive experience is quoted on his firm's website, where he is also described as being "phenomenal, just phenomenal," "brilliant and gifted," and a "real star."

He must be confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate before taking up the post.

The confirmation hearings that are sure to zero-in on a February, 2016 article Rettig wrote for "IRS Watch" in which he backed Trump's controversial decision not to make his tax returns public.

The real estate mogul has vehemently refused to release his returns, bucking decades-held norms observed by presidents and presidential candidates from both parties.

Trump, a self-declared billionaire, released a less detailed financial statement but has kept his tax returns private, fueling speculation about his sources of revenue and his net worth.

The Trump campaign erroneously claimed he could not release them because he was under audit.

White House aides now say he will not release them because the American people did not consider it an issue at the election.

In 2016, Rettig agreed with most experts that Trump faced no legal impediment to releasing the returns.

But said he was right to withhold them because his lawyers -- already forced to respond to the audit -- would be burdened by the "additional scrutiny brought on by a public disclosure."

Rettig was also skeptical that the returns would show anything untoward, but said they could be embarrassing nonetheless.

"Teams of sophisticated tax advisers were likely engaged throughout Trump's career to assure the absence of any 'bombshell' within the returns," he wrote.

"He likely pays taxes at a lesser rate than many of us," Rettig said.

"He is likely worth far more than us but may be worth far less than the approximately $10 billion he wants us to believe."