The US House Oversight Committee (Ways and Means Committee) has released some of the data relating to Donald Trump’s tax returns. The tycoon paid $1.1 million in taxes in his first three years in the White House, but in 2020, having declared net losses of $4.8 million, he paid nothing to the IRS. But in all, the former president made losses of 60 million dollars during his time in the White House.
These are some of the data contained in the summary that the Commission released in the night after yesterday evening there was the vote – strictly on partisan lines – which gave the green light to the disclosure of the former president’s “730”. Twenty-six Democrats voted for, 18 Republicans against.
All documents will be made public in the coming days after some sensitive data is deleted.
What the Commission has revealed is that the IRS, basically the US Revenue Agency, did not check Trump’s tax returns in the first two years, thus violating the rules. At the time, the head of the IRS was Charles P. Rettig, a Trump appointee who had publicly defended the president’s decision not to make his income and taxes public. To the commission, Rettig said that the first two years’ missed checks were due to a lack of resources.
Presidential candidates are not obliged to disclose their 730, but it is a custom that no one has ever escaped until the advent of Trump.
Democrats have been fighting since 2016 for access to his files but the Treasury has denied it. The turning point in recent weeks after the go-ahead from the Supreme Court for the delivery of tax material to Congress. According to some jurists and Republicans, yesterday’s vote sets a dangerous precedent as it violates privacy and transforms tax issues into a political weapon. Any citizen, critics say, will be able to have his statements revealed for any reason.
Another element that has come under scrutiny is the breach of confidentiality requested of the Commission once the private documents have been received from the Treasury Department.
The attention on Trump’s accounts became particularly acute after a 2018 New York Times investigation revealed anomalous maneuvers around debts accumulated over 15 years to avoid paying federal taxes.