A Democratic-controlled US House committee on Friday released six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns in an extraordinary move, days before Republicans take control of the chamber.
The release of Trump’s redacted statements for 2015 through 2020 caps a years-long battle between the former Republican president and Democratic lawmakers that was resolved only last month by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It is the latest blow for Trump, 76, who was impeached twice by the Democratic-led House only to be acquitted both times by the US Senate, and now faces multiple legal problems as he files a candidacy for re-election in 2024.
Earlier this month, the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol asked federal prosecutors to charge him with four felonies, including obstruction and insurrection.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal requested the returns in 2019, arguing that Congress needed them to determine whether legislation on presidential tax returns was justified.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, center, speaks to the media after the committee voted to publicly release years of Trump’s tax returns Friday. Neal is flanked by Democratic Reps. Judy Chu and Mike Thompson, both of California. (J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)
Republicans said the move could lead to the political weaponization of individual tax returns and warned that party members who take over the panel next month will face pressure to follow a similar path against Democrats high profile
Trump, who took office in 2017, was the first presidential candidate in decades not to release his taxes. He sued the committee to try to keep them private, but the US high court ruled in favor of the committee.
No timely IRS audits have been conducted
In a report last week, the committee outlined its findings from its examination of the documents, saying the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) broke its own rules by failing to audit Trump for three out of four years while he was president. .
Details previously released by the panel showed that Trump paid no income tax in 2020, his last full year in office, despite millions of dollars in profits from his expanding business empire.
Records show Trump’s income and tax liability fluctuated dramatically between 2015 and 2020, during his first presidential bid and subsequent term. They show that Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, claimed large deductions and losses, and paid little or no income tax in several of those years.
Democrats were on a tight schedule to find a way to manage the returns once they got them, given that Republicans will take control of the House on Tuesday after winning a slim majority in November’s midterm elections.
The House passed a bill before leaving for its winter recess that would require the tax-collecting IRS to complete audits of presidents’ tax returns within 90 days of the inauguration.