The Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to make public some documents related to former President Donald Trump's tax returns -- a move Trump has long fought.
The committee met for several hours behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon and then returned to vote 24-16 in open session to release the information related to Trump's tax returns from 2015-2020.
It's not clear what documents will be released or ultimately included in the committee's report, but there will be two days to redact sensitive information before anything is made public.
Chairman Richard Neal, D- Mass., said after the vote, "This is not being punitive. This is not about being malicious."
The tax returns will cover six years, from 2015 to 2020, Neal later said. The committee is in the process of redacting personal information and will release the documents once that's finished, which Neal said could be in a "few days." The six years of returns, including those of eight affiliated businesses; committee reports, a report from the Joint Committee on Taxation and IRS audit reports are expected to be released.
According to a summary released by the committee, Trump and his wife Melania, during the first year of Trump's presidential campaign in 2015, together reported $31.7 million in losses and reported $641,931 in net taxes.
During the 2016 presidential election year, the two again reported losing $32.4 million in adjusted gross income and paid just $750 in taxes, according to the committee. During Trump's first year in office, the couple reported losing $12.9 million and again paid $750 in taxes.
In 2018, their adjusted gross income went up, with them bringing in $24.3 million, and they reported paying $999,456 in taxes. In 2019, the two reported making $4.4 million and paid $133,445 in taxes.
In 2020, they reported losing $4.8 million and Trump paid $0 in taxes.
Neal told reporters that the committee found there was no ongoing audit of Trump's tax returns during his presidency until the committee requested them, despite an IRS requirement that tax returns filed by a sitting president or vice president are subject to audit.
Neal said the audit only began in 2019 after he requested the returns and said the audits of the requested returns were never completed.
"The tax forms were really never audited and only my sending a letter at one point prompted a rear-view mirror response," Neal said.
The committee earlier unanimously voted to have a transcript of the closed proceedings released when appropriate.
Before the committee met, multiple boxes of Trump tax return-related documents were seen being wheeled into the room.
The committee obtained the information from the Treasury Department last month, after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump's request to block an appears court order that he surrender his tax returns and other financial records to the committee.