Devin Nunes makes a boom boom

Trump broke a 40-year tradition by not releasing his tax returns during the campaign or since. Now, there are bills in both House and Senate that would require presidents, and party nominees for the presidency, to release their returns. Perhaps those will become law, and the tradition will become a legal requirement.

But a choice by the Ways & Means committee to force the release of the president's returns could have serious consequences. For one, it will set a precedent for the House majority, in this case the Democrats, to go after the tax returns of individuals. It is not hard to imagine that coming around to bite Democrats in the future.

"Once you go down this road, it's a lot like using the intelligence agencies to look into political campaigns," Republican Rep. Devin Nunes of California, ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said last month. "Once you go down the road, there's no turning back, because then it ratchets up. Because at some point, Republicans will be back in power. There are lots of people we could have subpoenaed their tax returns the last few years that would be very interesting."

It is not hard to foresee the tax return fight setting off an ugly escalation of partisan warfare on the Hill.