House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., cited a provision of the law known as 26 U.S. Code § 6103 in the letter he sent to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig. The law allows the chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee to seek returns by sending a written request, and that those returns "shall" be handed over. This legal authority is almost a century old, said University of Virginia law professor George Yin. "Congress decided that tax information should remain confidential except in two situations," Yin has written.