Trump does not want to reveal his tax returns, why?
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(CNN) --
The House Ways and Means committee now has in its possession six years of former President Donald Trump's federal tax returns, marking the end of a years-long effort by Democrats. to inquire about one of the ex-president's best kept personal details.
"The Treasury (Department) complied with last week's court decision," a Treasury spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.
The official did not provide any additional information.
Federal courts ruled that the House could request six years of Trump's tax returns, after the commission initially requested them in 2019 and again in 2021, according to public court records.
Several justices, including those appointed by Republicans, decided that the House had the power to request the returns of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS, for its acronym in English).
Treasury declined to comment on whether commission members had access to the documents, according to a department official.
Supreme Court clears way for Trump's tax returns to be turned over to House committee
The commission, which is led by Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, had sought to obtain six years of Trump's tax records, mostly from the time he served as president.
That included records of Trump as an individual and several of his corporate entities.
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The documents are not expected to be immediately released to the public.
Neal said Wednesday that Democrats would meet as a group to discuss how to handle tax returns and get legal advice on how to proceed.
However, such a meeting has not yet been scheduled, he said.
The congressman declined to say whether they would release any of the statements publicly.
“The next step is to have a Democratic legislative caucus meeting,” he said.
Trump's legal team continually tried to keep his tax returns secret and turned to the Supreme Court, made up of three of his appointees, after he lost in a lower court.
“No Congress has ever exercised its legislative powers to compel a president's tax returns,” Trump argued before the Supreme Court, while warning of the “far-reaching implications” of the Washington City Circuit ruling.
He had pointed out that the way the lower courts handled the House request contradicted the Supreme Court's ruling in the Mazars case, regarding a subpoena the House issued to Trump's accounting firm for its tax information.
Trump asks the Supreme Court to prevent the IRS from turning over his tax returns to the House of Representatives
Trump's tax returns have largely been a mystery since he first ran for President.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump broke with presidential election rules and refused to submit his tax returns for public review.
They were also kept private after he took office.
Being under IRS audit does not stop someone from posting your tax returns.
But that hasn't stopped Trump from using it as a defense against divulging his financial information.
In 2016, Trump released a letter from his tax attorneys confirming that he was under audit.
But the letter also said that the IRS finished reviewing Trump's taxes from 2002 to 2008. Trump did not release his tax returns for those years, even though the audits were finished.
An expansive 2020
New York Times
report found that Trump paid no federal income tax for 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 because he reported losing significantly more than he earned.
Tierney Sneed and Paul LeBlanc, both at CNN, contributed to this report.
trump taxes