In response to President Trump suing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax information in 2020, U.S. Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) has proposed legislation “to prohibit any president who sues the federal government from being able to realize any profit or gain.” The bill would also include “a 100 percent tax on any monies that come to a seated president through a lawsuit.”
Note: Based on the leaked tax records, The New York Times reported in 2020 that Trump paid $750 in federal income tax the year he first entered the White House and no income tax some years prior. Trump (and his sons, Donald Jr. and Eric, who are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit), allege that the leak has caused “reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing.”
No president should be allowed to sue the government and pocket taxpayer money. My Prevent Presidential Profiteering Act taxes 100 percent of any settlement paid to a sitting president. The presidency is public service, not a profit opportunity. pic.twitter.com/sT8r5mub8B
— Rep. Mike Thompson (@RepThompson) February 4, 2026
Thompson added: “No president should be allowed to sue the government and pocket taxpayer money. My Prevent Presidential Profiteering Act taxes 100 percent of any settlement paid to a sitting president. The presidency is public service, not a profit opportunity.”
When some MAGA supporters replied with comments including “You literally haven’t said a word about public servants, especially your colleagues in Congress, and their skyrocketing net worth while in office. Hypocrisy, again,” Thompson replied with the message: “I don’t trade or own stocks because public service should never be about personal profit. The American people need to know their representatives are working for them, not corporate interests. That’s why I signed the petition to force a vote to ban stock trading by members of Congress.”
I don’t trade or own stocks because public service should never be about personal profit. The American people need to know their representatives are working for them, not corporate interests. That’s why I signed the petition to force a vote to ban stock trading by members of… pic.twitter.com/4NUi5ui5Vk
— Rep. Mike Thompson (@RepThompson) January 15, 2026
For months, a bipartisan group of lawmakers including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has been working on congressional proposals to ban stock trading by members — but without success. The ‘Stop Insider Trading Act’ advanced by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has been called toothless by both Democrats and Republicans, for its performative “restrictions” on trading.
[NOTE: Democrats have also pushed to include a prohibition on trading by the president and vice president in congressional stock trading restrictions efforts, but as the Times reports, Republicans like Mary Miller of Illinois, called inclusion of the executive branch members a “poison pill” and a nonstarter.]
Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) added: “The IRS runs on about $12 billion a year. Donald Trump is suing it for $10 billion, nearly the agency’s entire budget. He’s trying to drain a public institution to settle a personal grievance over a crime someone else already paid for. It shows exactly where his loyalty lies: not with taxpayers, not with the country, but with himself.”