According to the New York Times, the revelation came to light on Thursday, hours before the former Goldman Sachs banker testified before the Senate Finance Committee and a day before Trump’s inauguration.
Senator Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the bi-partisan committee, said: “The treasury secretary ought to be somebody who works on behalf of all Americans, including those who are still waiting for the economic recovery to show up in their communities.
“When I look at Mr Mnuchin’s background, it’s a stretch to find evidence he’d be that kind of treasury secretary.”
Senator Debbie Stabenow, Democrat of Michigan, asked Mnuchin if he was using Cayman Islands corporations to avoid tax.
He responded that he was working on behalf of his clients, in accordance with the law: “Let me just be clear again. I did not use a Cayman Islands entity in any way to avoid paying taxes for myself. I would love to work with the IRS to close these tax issues that make no sense.”
According to The Guardian newspaper, Mnuchin said his decision to move his investment vehicles offshore was not always about taxes but about making investments eligible for pensions and other non-profits.
He added: “I would support changing the tax laws to make sure they are simpler and more effective.”
Republicans on the committee came to Mnuchin’s defence, suggesting that his omissions were not wilful.
Unintentional oversight
The treasury secretary nominee claimed that his failure to disclose was due to a misunderstanding of the form he had to complete, saying they were simple mistakes made amid a mountain of bureaucracy.
“I think as you all can appreciate, filling out these government forms is quite complicated,” Mnuchin said, adding that he had handed over 5,000 pages of disclosures. “Let me first say, any oversight, it was unintentional.”
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, said: “Never before has the senate considered such an ethically challenged slate of nominees for key cabinet positions. Mr Mnuchin’s failure to disclose his Cayman Islands holdings just reeks of the swamp that the president-elect promised to drain on the campaign trail.”
