Trump Tax Returns Released by House Democrats
“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises,” he wrote.
Tax returns are among the most privately held documents in the United States. Although Congress has the power to obtain and release them, it rarely takes such action.
After Mr. Trump broke with tradition and declined to release his returns as a presidential candidate or while he was in office, Democratic lawmakers sought them out of concern about potential conflicts of interest. Ultimately, they were able to unlock them using their oversight powers through the inquiry into the I.R.S. policy of auditing presidents and vice presidents.
In 2020, after obtaining data from more than two decades of Mr. Trump’s tax returns, The New York Times traced the boom-and-bust arcs of his financial history: dubious tax avoidance, huge losses and a life buttressed by an inherited fortune. The newly released tax returns show how that pattern extended through his years in Washington.
The reports issued by the Ways and Means Committee also highlighted how outgunned the I.R.S. was in dealing with the army of lawyers, accountants and tax professionals hired by Mr. Trump to defend him in the audits of his returns before, during and after his presidency.
“With over 400 flow-thru returns reported on the Form 1040, it is not possible to obtain the resources available to examine all potential issues,” I.R.S. agents said of Mr. Trump’s tax returns in an internal memo that the committee released last week.
Republicans warned that the release of a private individual’s tax returns would set a dangerous precedent and lead to public pressure for G.O.P. lawmakers to respond by releasing other sets of tax returns once they take control of the House next week.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/30/us/politics/trump-tax-returns-released.html