House Democrats Get Access To Donald Trump's Tax Returns After Long Legal Battle

Trump, who served as the President from 2017 to 2021, reported heavy losses from his business enterprise over several years to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income, said media reports.

A committee of the US House of Representatives has got access to former President Donald Trump’s tax returns, after a year-long legal battle with the former Republican President accusing the Democratic-led panel of being politically motivated, reported news agency Reuters. 

"Treasury has complied with last week's court decision," a Treasury department spokesperson told the news agency. The spokesperson, however, declined to comment on whether the committee had yet accessed the documents. 

The tax returns were obtained by the Ways and Means Committee after the Supreme Court gave a nod for their release. It has been seeking the returns spanning 2015 through 2020, which it says it needs to establish whether the Internal Revenue Service is properly auditing presidential returns and whether new legislation is needed.

During the court proceeding, Trump was denied his October 31 emergency application by the judges which sought to block a lower court’s ruling that upheld the Ways and Means Committee’s request for his tax records as a justified part of the panel’s legislative work. No justice publicly dissented from the decision, the report added. 

Citing news media reports and trial testimony about his finances, the report stated that Trump, who served as the President of US from 2017 to 2021, reported heavy losses from his business enterprise over several years to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income. In such a way, he paid very little in taxes.

Meanwhile the committee is poised with a serious question of what will happen to the returns when Republicans take control of the House from Democrats. The committee had first requested Trump’s returns in 2019. 

Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee, the counterpart to the Ways and Means Committee, were considering their options on any action relating to Trump's tax returns, according to an aide who spoke on condition of anonymity. Democrats held their Senate majority in November's midterm elections.