Inspector general

Inspector general launches inquiry into whether Treasury hid Republican tax bill analysis

By JIM PUZZANGHERA

The Treasury Department’s inspector general has launched an inquiry into whether the department hid an analysis of the Republican tax bill — or even did one at all.

Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin has said economic growth stimulated by the bill’s large tax cuts would offset lost revenue and indicated his department would produce an analysis proving it.

But no analysis has been released as the Senate prepared to vote on its version of the tax legislation. The House approved its tax bill on Nov. 16.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wrote to Treasury Inspector General Eric M. Thorson on Thursday asking for an inquiry after a New York Times article said members of the Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy, which would do such an analysis, said they were not working on one.

“Either the Treasury Department has used extensive taxpayer funds to conduct economic analyses that it refuses to release because those analyses would contradict the Treasury secretary’s claims, or Secretary Mnuchin has grossly misled the public about the extent of the Treasury Department’s analysis,” Warren wrote. “I am deeply concerned about either possibility.”

Rich Delmar, counsel to the inspector general, said Thursday the office had launched an inquiry and that it was a “top priority.”

A spokeswoman for Mnuchin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement came as the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation released its analysis Thursday showing that the bill would add $1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade even after accounting for increased economic growth.