The House of Representatives decides whether to release Trump's tax returns

By Josh Boak and Meg Kinnard -

The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to release Donald Trump's tax returns, which the former president has tried to hide for years.

After a year of battle that culminated last month with a Supreme Court decision to clear the way for the Treasury Department to send tax reports to Congress, Democrats are now under pressure to act aggressively.

After years of refusing to hand them over, Congress already has Trump's taxes thanks to a court order

Nov 30, 202201:13

The meeting may also become the last opportunity for the Democrats to reveal this information, since in two weeks the Republicans will formally take control of the House thanks to the result of the mid-term elections.

The parliamentary committee received the reports corresponding to six years of statements by Trump and some of his companies.

As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns.

In a presidential debate that year, he bragged that he was "smart" because he didn't pay federal taxes;

he subsequently vowed that he would not personally benefit from the 2017 tax cuts he signed into law that favored wealthy people, asking citizens to simply take his word for it.

[An ethics committee investigates Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]

Tax records were a useful metric by which to judge his success in business.

The businessman image was key to a political brand honed during his years as a tabloid magnet and star of the television show

.

They could also reveal any financial obligations - including foreign debts - that might influence his governance.

But Trump's relationship with the IRS was largely unknown to citizens until October 2018 and September 2020, when The New York Times published information based on leaked tax records.

Trump calls for parts of the Constitution to be removed and insists on voter fraud

Dec 5, 202201:48

The 2018 articles, which received a Pulitzer Prize, showed how Trump received today's equivalent of at least $413 million from his father's real estate holdings.

The newspaper noted that much of that money came from “tax evasions” in the 1990s. Trump sued the newspaper and his niece Mary Trump in 2021, accusing her of leaking the information.

The 2020 articles showed that Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018. The former president paid no income tax in 10 of the past 15 years because he typically lost more money than he earned.

[Biden ends the year with political victories after shielding equal marriage and the release of Griner]

The articles exposed deep inequities in the tax code, as Trump, a reputed billionaire, paid little in federal income taxes.

IRS figures indicate that, on average, Americans paid about $12,200 in 2017, approximately 16 times what the tycoon paid.

The tax documents also provided information about his income from foreign operations and his debts, something Trump called "fake news."

"No one is above the law": Mike Pence answers questions about Donald Trump

Nov 19, 202201:18

At the time of the publication of the 2020 articles, congressional committee chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, said he saw an ethical problem for Trump to oversee a federal agency he has also fought with legal filings.

“Now, Donald Trump is the head of the agency he considers an adversary,” he declared then, “it is essential that the IRS presidential audit program remain free from interference.”

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office also obtained copies of Trump's tax records in February 2021 after a lengthy legal fight that also involved the Supreme Court.

[The lies with which Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024]

The Prosecutor's Office, then led by Cyrus Vance Jr, had subpoenaed Trump's accounting firm in 2019, with the aim of accessing eight years of Trump's tax returns.

The subpoena was issued after Trump's former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, told Congress that the former president had misled tax officials, insurers and business partners about the true value of his assets.

Those allegations are currently the subject of a fraud lawsuit New York Attorney General Letitia James filed against Trump and his company in September.

"You lost again, Donald."

The mysterious manta that flew over Trump's residence in Florida

Nov 16, 202201:13

Trump's former accountant, Donald Bender, testified in the recent Trump Organization criminal trial that the former president reported losses on his tax returns every year for a decade, including nearly $700 million in 2009 and $200 million in 2010.

Bender, a partner at Mazars USA LLP, was in charge of preparing Trump's personal tax returns for years.

Trump's reported losses from 2009 to 2018, he said, included net operating losses from some of the many businesses he owns through his conglomerate.

The Trump Organization was convicted earlier this month of tax fraud for helping some executives evade taxes on perks paid by the company, such as apartments and luxury cars.