House Committee Votes To Make Trump's Tax Records Public, Criticizes IRS

The House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of making six years of former President Donald Trump's tax returns public on Tuesday (December 20) following years of questions regarding his business and personal wealth that stem back to his initial presidential campaign, NBC News reports.

The panel voted along party lines and Trump's tax records could be released to the public as early as Wednesday (December 21), the same day that the House Jan. 6 committee is scheduled to issue its final report on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, just days ahead of the Republicans taking over House control in January.

The committee also criticized the IRS for its lack of mandatory audits of returns filed by presidents and vice presidents in relation to Trump, whose returns were only examined after the panel inquired about the process, according to a 29-page report released after the vote on Tuesday.

"During the prior Administration, it was clear that the mandatory audit program was not a priority and was not provided with the resources needed to ensure compliance by the former President," the report states via NBC News. "An internal IRS memo stated: '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.'" 

A separate 39-page report was released by the Joint Committee of Taxation Tuesday night, which summarized the former president's personal tax forms and business entities.

Records obtained by the Joint Committee of Taxation showed Trump appeared to owe nothing in taxes due to claiming $15 million in business loses, which led to him having negative $4 million in adjusted gross income before he claimed a $5 million refund.

Trump also reported millions in negative income between 2015 and 2017, as well as in 2020, having only paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and no taxes in 2020, according to the report.