NEW YORK (Reuters) – Donald Trump lost his latest battle to keep his tax returns secret when the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the release of the Republican former president’s records to the Democratic-led House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee.
Here is a look at Trump’s efforts to keep his tax returns secret, what is known about their content so far and what could come next as he again runs for president in 2024.
WHAT MIGHT THE TAX RETURNS SHOW?
Members of the Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction related to tax issues, have said they hope to receive Trump’s returns as soon as next week after the Supreme Court’ action on Tuesday.
Trump, who served as president from 2017 to 2021, reported heavy losses from his business enterprises over several years to offset hundreds of millions of dollars in income, according to news media reporting and trial testimony about his finances. That allowed him to pay very little in taxes.
In 2020, the New York Times, citing two decades of tax return data, said Trump paid no federal income tax in 10 of the 15 years through 2017 despite receiving $427.4 million in income from his reality television program and other endorsement and licensing deals through 2018. The newspaper reported that Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017.
Trump in 2020 called the article “fake news.” A Trump Organization lawyer in 2020 said that Trump “paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal…
