Topline
The House Ways and Means Committee released six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, shedding light on Trump’s finances after years of legal battles, days before Republicans are set to take control of the House and would have likely blocked the effort.
Former President Donald Trump (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty ... [+]
Key Facts
The release—which includes thousands of pages detailing Trump and his wife Melania’s finances from 2015 through 2020—follows a vote by the committee last week to make the documents public.
A preliminary report released by the committee last week showed Trump paid $1.1 million in taxes throughout his presidency, but $0 in 2020.
Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in both 2016 and 2017, but nearly $1 million in 2018 and $144,445 in 2019, according to the reports, which detail tax returns from Trump and eight of his affiliated entities.
The reports show Trump claimed his adjusted gross income was negative $4.8 million in 2020 and negative $12.9 million in 2017, largely due to losses reported across his businesses, but Trump said he made $24.3 million in 2018 and $4.4 million in 2019.
The documents also show former first lady Melania Trump made $3,848 from modeling in 2019 and 2020, but she also reported $3,848 in expenses in both years, leaving her with a net zero income from modeling—last week, House Democrats questioned whether the modeling income and several other sole proprietorships reported by the Trumps constituted “valid trade or business activities, or whether these [tax records] contained costs derived from personal activities or hobbies.”
The returns indicated Trump earned income from business dealings in several foreign countries, including the United Kingdom, Panama, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, Politico noted.
Trump also earned $133,173 in royalties in 2020, but it’s unclear what for, CBS News reported.
The former president did not report any charitable contributions on his 2020 tax form, though he reported around $500,000 in 2019 and 2018 and just under $1.9 million in 2017.
The committee sought to obtain Trump’s tax returns as part of an investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s mandatory audit program.
Surprising Fact
Trump may have benefitted from some provisions of the GOP-backed tax bill that he signed into law in 2017, but the bill’s cap on total state and local tax payments that can be deducted for federal tax purposes likely cost Trump, multiple news outlets note. The former president deducted about $5.2 million in state and local taxes in 2017, but he was only able to claim $10,000—the maximum allowed under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017—in the three subsequent years, even though he reported paying millions of dollars in income and property taxes to state and local governments each year, according to the records released Friday.
Key Background
Trump broke years of precedent set by former presidents when he declined to make his tax returns public. The Democrat-led House committee obtained the documents from the IRS last month following a Supreme Court decision denying Trump’s bid to keep them secret. The committee reported that the IRS failed to properly audit Trump’s tax returns: The agency did not review the documents during Trump’s first two years in office and did not complete a full audit of his taxes at any point while he was in office, even though presidents are subject to mandatory IRS reviews, according to the committee’s preliminary report.
Crucial Quote
“A president is no ordinary taxpayer. They hold power and influence unlike any other American. And with great power comes even greater responsibility,” Committee Chair Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.) said in a statement.
Contra
For years, Trump fought in court to prevent lawmakers from accessing his returns, but the Supreme Court ultimately denied his request to block their release last month, signaling an end to Trump’s legal battle. Trump argued that the committee sought the tax returns simply to make them public, rather than for a legitimate legislative purpose. Republican lawmakers have also accused the committee of withholding key portions of the documents and selectively releasing details to cast Trump in a negative light.
Chief Critic
Trump criticized Democrats and the Supreme Court for releasing the returns in a statement issued Friday to multiple outlets by his 2024 presidential campaign. “The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything,” he said, adding that the documents show “how proudly successful [he’s]
been” and how he’s used “depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises.”Further Reading
This Is The Reason Trump Hid His Tax Returns For So Long (Forbes)
Checks & Imbalances: Inside Trump's Tax Returns (Forbes)
Trump Paid $0 In Taxes In 2020—Here’s What To Know About His Tax Returns (Forbes)
