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A Democratic-controlled committee met Tuesday to vote on whether to publicly release years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the former U.S. president has long sought to cover up.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has been closely monitoring the group’s actions, which plan to vote on the release in closed session. If members move forward with plans to publish their returns, it is unclear how quickly that will happen.
But after a years-long fight that culminated in the Supreme Court last month clearing the way for the Treasury Department to send the returns to Congress, Democrats are under pressure to act aggressively.
The committee received six years of tax returns from Mr. Trump and some of his businesses. With just two weeks left until Republicans formally take control of the House, Tuesday’s meeting could be the last chance for Democrats to reveal any information they have gathered.
Republicans opposed the possible release, arguing it would set a dangerous precedent.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the committee’s Republican leader, Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, called any release of Trump’s tax records a “dangerous new political weapon” that “even Democrats will regret.”
“Our concern is not whether the president should release his tax returns, as is traditional, or the accuracy of his tax returns,” Mr. Brady said. “Our concern is that, if this committee action is taken, it will set a dire precedent, unleashing a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond the former president and overturns several reforms since Watergate. A decade of privacy protections for ordinary Americans.”
Mr. Trump has long had a complicated relationship with his personal income taxes.
As a 2016 presidential candidate, he broke with decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns to the public. He boasted during that year’s presidential debate that he was “smart” because he didn’t pay federal taxes, and later claimed he wouldn’t benefit from the 2017 tax cuts he signed to benefit the very rich, demanding that Americans Simply accept him as he says.
Tax records would have been a useful indicator of his business success. The image of a shrewd businessman is key to the political brand he honed during his time as a tabloid magnet and star of The Apprentice TV show. They can also disclose any financial obligations — including foreign debt — that could affect the way he governs.
But Americans were largely in the dark about Trump’s relationship with the IRS until October 2018 and September 2020, when The New York Times published two separate series based on leaked tax records.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning article in 2018 showed how Trump acquired the modern equivalent of at least $413m (£339m) from estates held by his father, much of which came from what the New York Times called “tax evasion”. ’ 1990s.
Mr Trump sued The New York Times and its niece Mary Trump in 2021 for providing records to the newspaper. In November, Mary Trump asked an appeals court to overturn a judge’s decision to dismiss her claim that her uncle and his two siblings defrauded her of millions of dollars in a 2001 family settlement.
The 2020 article revealed that Mr Trump paid just $750 (£616) in federal income tax in 2017 and 2018. He paid no income tax at all for 10 of the past 15 years because he usually lost more money than he made.
The articles exposed stark inequalities in the U.S. tax code, as Trump, a famous billionaire, pays little to no federal income tax. The average tax filer paid around $12,200 (£10,023) in 2017, about 16 times what the former president paid, according to IRS data.
Details about income and debt levels from Trump’s overseas businesses are also included in the tax filings, which the former president derided as “fake news.”
At the time of the 2020 article, Mr. Neal said he believed the federal agency Trump oversaw had ethical problems and that he had also fought legal filings.
“Now, Donald Trump is the boss of an institution he considers his opponent,” Mr Neal said in 2020. “The IRS’ presidential audit program must remain uninterrupted.”
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office obtained copies of Trump’s tax records in February 2021 after a protracted legal battle that included two trips to the Supreme Court.
The office, then headed by District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., subpoenaed Trump’s accounting firm in 2019 and requested eight years of Trump’s tax returns and related documents.
The U.S. attorney’s office issued the subpoena after Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told Congress that Trump misled tax officials, insurance companies and business associates about the value of his assets. The allegations are the subject of a fraud lawsuit filed in September against Trump and his companies by New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Mr. Trump’s longtime accountant, Donald Bender, testified at the Trump Organization’s recent criminal trial that Mr. Trump had reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade, including nearly $700 million ($575 million) in 2009. billion) and $200 million (£1.64 million) in 2010.
Mr. Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP who spent years preparing Mr. Trump’s personal tax returns, said Mr. Trump’s reported losses from 2009 to 2018 included assets he owned through the Trump Organization. Some of the many businesses in the business are operating at a net operating loss.
The Trump Organization was convicted earlier this month of tax fraud for helping some executives evade taxes on company-paid perks, such as apartments and luxury cars.
Alvin Bragg, the current Manhattan district attorney, said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that his office’s investigation of Mr. Trump and his businesses continues.
“We will follow the facts and continue to do our job well,” Mr Bragg said.
Mr. Trump refused to release his tax returns during his 2016 presidential campaign and four years in the White House while claiming he was being audited by the IRS, arguing that even though he has worked hard to keep his tax returns , and there is nothing to collect. They are private.
“You can’t learn much from tax returns, but if they’re not yours, it’s illegal to publish them!” he complained on his social media networks last weekend.
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