House committee expected to release Trump's taxes Friday

The Democratic-controlled committee voted last week to release Trump’s returns, with some redactions of sensitive information, such as Social Security numbers and contact information. The release raises the potential of additional revelations related to the finances of the longtime businessman who broke political norms by refusing to make public his returns as he sought the presidency.

The vote came the same day the panel released a report in which it found that the IRS failed to pursue mandatory audits of Trump on a timely basis during his presidency. It indicated the Trump administration may have disregarded an IRS requirement dating back to 1977 that mandates audits of a president’s tax filings.

The IRS only began to audit Trump’s 2016 tax filings on April 3, 2019, more than two years into Trump’s presidency and just months after Democrats took control of the House. That date coincided with Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the panel chairman, asking the IRS for information related to Trump’s tax returns.

The vote was the culmination of a yearslong fight between Trump and Democrats that played out everywhere from the campaign trail to the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Democrats on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee argued that transparency and the rule of law were at stake, while Republicans countered that the release would set a dangerous precedent with regard to the loss of privacy protections.

“This is about the presidency, not the president,” Neal told reporters last week.

Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the panel’s top GOP member, said, “Regrettably, the deed is done.”