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Six years of Donald J. Trump's tax records were released by the House Democrats.
The release came 10 days after Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee published two reports about Mr. Trump. During the first two years of Mr. Trump's presidency, the I.R.S. failed to audit him and did not begin the examination process until 2019.
The chairman of the Ways and Means Committee said that the findings turned out to be simple.
While much of the information in the tax returns has already come to light, including through the two reports released last week, the full records from 2015 through 2020 are expected to provide a rare window into the complexity of Mr. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act gave businesses and wealthy people tax breaks.
During the first three years of his presidency, Mr. Trump paid over a million dollars in federal income taxes, but did not pay any in 2020. Mr. Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in his first year in office.
The Joint Committee on Taxation found a number of red flags in the former president's tax returns. He took a deduction related to the settlement of fraud claims against the now-collapsed Trump University.
Tax returns are one of the most private documents in the US. Congress doesn't take action to get and release them.
Democrats sought Mr. Trump's returns out of concern about potential conflicts of interest after he broke with tradition and refused to release his returns. They were able to get to the bottom of the I.R.S. policy through their oversight powers.
The New York Times traced the boom and bust of Mr. Trump's financial history after obtaining data from more than two decades of his tax returns. Through his years in Washington, the pattern was shown in the tax returns.
The I.R.S. was outgunned by the army of lawyers, accountants and tax professionals hired by Mr. Trump to defend him in the audits of his returns before, during and after his presidency.
The I.R.S. agents said that it was not possible to examine all of Mr. Trump's tax returns because of his large number.
Republicans warned that the release of a private individual's tax returns would set a dangerous precedent and lead to public pressure for G.O.P. to respond by releasing other sets of tax returns.
Republicans raised the possibility of releasing tax information related to the Biden family in a closed-door hearing last week.
The chairs of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee will be able to target and make public the tax returns of private citizens, political enemies, business and labor leaders, or even the Supreme Court justices themselves.
The stain on the Ways and Means Committee will make American politics even more divisive and discouraging. Democrats will regret it in the future.
Alan Rappeport reported from Washington.
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