Donald Trump’s tax affairs are under scrutiny.
(Picture: AP)Newly realesed tax records for Donald Trump have revealed that in some years from 2015 to 2020 he paid little or no tax.
The near 6,000 pages of records include more than 2,700 pages of personal returns from Trump and his wife Melania , plus more than 3,000 pages of returns from his businesses.
The records show that Trump’s income and tax liability fluctuated dramatically from 2015 through 2020, during his first presidential bid and subsequent term in office.
He and his wife claimed large deductions and losses, and paid little or no income tax in several of those years.
Trump, a businessman who held public office for the first time when he entered the White House in 2017, was the first presidential candidate in decades not to release his tax returns. He sued the committee to try to keep them private but the US high court ruled in the committee’s favor.
In findings disclosed last week, the committee said the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service broke its own rules by not auditing Trump for three out of four years while he was president
“Our findings turned out to be simple — IRS did not begin their mandatory audit of the former president until I made my initial request,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said in a statement.
Mr Neal first requested the returns in 2019, arguing that Congress needed them to determine if legislation on presidential tax returns was warranted.
It was the latest blow for Trump, 76, who was impeached twice by the Democratic-led House only to be acquitted both times by the US Senate and now faces multiple legal woes as he mounts a 2024 election bid.
Earlier this month, the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by his supporters asked federal prosecutors to charge him with four crimes including obstruction and insurrection for his role in the deadly riot
In a statement, Trump said: “The Democrats should have never done it, the Supreme Court should have never approved it, and it’s going to lead to horrible things for so many people.”
“The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The Radical Left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!” he said.
