US House panel gets access to Donald Trump’s tax returns

A US House of Representatives committee has obtained access to Donald Trumprsquos tax returns following a yearslong court fight with the Republican former president who has accused the Democraticled panel of being politically motivatedldquoTreasury has complied with last weekrsquos court decisionrdquo a Treasury Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement late on Wednesday The spokesperson declined to say whether the committee had yet accessed the documents The development was reported earlier by CNNThe Ways and Means Committee obtained the tax returns following a Supreme Court decision clearing 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 neededAlso Read Republicans gain control of US House of RepresentativesThe panel will have little time to do its work with Republicans poised to take the House majority in January Trump who on Nov 15 began his third consecutive run for the presidency fought the committee tooth and nail to avoid releasing themHe was the first president in four decades not to release his tax returns as he sought to keep secret the details of his wealth and the activities of his real estate company the Trump Organisation It had long been customary though not required for major party presidential candidates to release their returnsTrump 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 taxesA major question hanging over the committeersquos work is what will happen to the returns when Republicans take control of the House from the Democrats The committee first requested Trumprsquos returns in 2019Trump Organisationrsquos tax fraud trialClosing arguments to the jury by prosecution and defense lawyers were set to begin on Thursday in the criminal tax fraud trial of former US President Donald Trumprsquos real estate company which is accused of running a 15year scheme to defraud tax authorities The defense rested its case on Monday in a New York state court in Manhattan having called just two witnesses after prosecutors presented testimony from five people including star witness Allen Weisselberg the Trump Organisationrsquos exchief financial officerThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever