Democrats’ majority in the House is in its last days, but they are making good on a years-long goal of releasing former President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
On Friday, Democrats released six years of the former president’s tax returns.
The move comes after years of Trump mounting legal challenges to block their release.
Six years of Trump’s tax returns have now been made public by the House Ways and Means committee.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) December 30, 2022
Friday’s release of the documents comes after the House Ways and Means Committee released two reports focused on Trump’s taxes.
As The New York Times noted, “The reports found that the I.R.S. failed to audit Mr. Trump during the first two years of his presidency and did not begin the examination process until 2019, after House Democrats initiated oversight proceedings in an attempt to gain access to his tax records.”
After his tax returns were released, Trump said in a statement obtained by CNN’s Kristen Holmes, “The Democrats should have never done it.”
He claimed Democrats “weaponized everything.”
“But remember that is a dangerous two-way street,” he added.
Trump out with a statement blasting Dems' release of his tax returns per @KristenhCNN.
— Lauren Fox (@FoxReports) December 30, 2022
"The Democrats should have never done it," he says warning that Democrats have "weaponized everything, but remember that is a dangerous two-way street."
The Times noted, “While much of the information in the tax returns has already come to light, including through the two reports released last week, the full records from 2015 through 2020 are expected to provide a rare window into the complexity of Mr. Trump’s finances and whether he may have profited from tax policies he signed into law as president.”
“The data released last week showed that during the first three years of his presidency, Mr. Trump paid $1.1 million in federal income taxes but paid no tax in 2020 as his income dwindled and losses mounted. During his first year as president, Mr. Trump paid $750 in federal income tax and reported $12.9 million in losses,” it added.
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, criticized the decision to release the former president’s tax returns.
In a statement, he said, “Going forward, all future chairs of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will have nearly unlimited power to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens, political enemies, business and labor leaders or even the Supreme Court justices themselves.”
“This is a regrettable stain on the Ways and Means Committee and Congress, and will make American politics even more divisive and disheartening. In the long run, Democrats will come to regret it,” he added.
