A House of Representatives committee on Wednesday voted to publish the tax returns of former US President Donald Trump, who has spent years fighting a legal battle to keep them private.
This special-seat tax commission with a Democratic majority voted to install the new Republican majority 24-16 in early January for the release of the six years of Trump’s millionaire tax data, between 2015 and 2020.
Before the vote, Democrats had not ruled out the immediate release of these tax data once approved, but the exact date of publication was not yet known, AFP reported.
The committee chair, Democrat Richard Neal, said the supporting materials will be released along with the report.
Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the committee, expressed privacy concerns as the documents may contain information such as social security numbers.
This group of congressmen has been demanding for three years the documents that the Republican has sent to the IRS between those years, a request that Trump has always refused.
Trump has broken a habit of his predecessors since the 1970s and failed to release his tax returns, which has raised many questions about their contents.
The report could provide a more complete picture of Trump’s personal and business finances, potentially revealing how much money the Republican tycoon paid in taxes, what income he earned from foreign activities, and whether his income was as high as Trump suggested.
The release of this data comes after years of battle that culminated in November when the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Treasury Department to send the data to the US Congress.
The commission received tax returns from Trump and some of his companies for six years.
Democrats are under pressure to act aggressively with just two weeks left until Republicans formally take control of the House of Representatives.
Tuesday’s session was an opportunity for Democrats to release all the information they could get their hands on a figure who continues to shape American politics despite losing reelection in 2020.
Trump has already announced that he is running for the Republican seat in the 2024 White House race.
The lack of transparency from Donald Trump, who turned his wealth into a campaign argument, has led to speculation about the size of his wealth or possible conflicts of interest for years.
His family’s family business, the Trump Organization, was found guilty of financial and tax fraud in early December after a trial in New York that failed to bring the former Republican president to justice.
Source: DN
