Trump’s tax returns released by the House Ways and Means Committee

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The Democratic Members of the House Ways and Means Committee led by Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 in Washington, DC.

Kent Nishimura | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The House Ways and Means Committee released six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns on Friday, offering the most detailed account yet of his finances while in the White House.

The panel voted last week to make public the returns with redactions of sensitive information, after a lengthy legal battle. The Ways and Means Committee last month obtained Trump’s federal income tax returns for the years 2015 through 2020, along with tax records for some of his business entities. The panel sought records from 2019, when Trump was president, and he tried to block their release in court.

Individual and business taxes issued by the committee can be found here.

The panel released a report earlier this month summarizing the former president’s returns. The summary prepared by the Joint Committee on Taxation showed that Trump declared negative income in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020. He paid a total of $1,500 in income taxes for the years 2016 and 2017.

Trump’s financial records, some of which have been revealed by New York Times reporting in recent years, show that the former president, who ran for office in part on his business acumen, routinely disclosed large losses. and paying little or no tax for many years. Tax returns suggest many of Trump’s businesses have seen significant losses since he launched his first presidential bid during his first term as commander in chief. Trump has repeatedly said he is wise to use deductions or losses to reduce his tax burden.

A copy of former US President Donald Trump’s 2015 individual tax return is seen after Trump’s tax returns, obtained last month after a lengthy court battle, were to be made public by the US House Ways and Means Committee in Washington, US, December 30, 2022.

Julio Cesar Chavez | Reuters

Financial records show:

Trump and his wife Melania declared negative income of $31.7 million, and taxable income of $0, on their 2015 return. They paid $641,931 in federal income taxes. On their 2016 return, the Trumps declared a negative income of $32.2 million, and again recorded $0 of taxable income. They paid $750 in taxes. Trump and his wife declared $12.8 million in negative income on their 2017 return, with $0 in taxable income. Again they paid $750 in taxes. The 2018 return showed a higher picture for the Trumps’ finances: they declared $24.4 million in gross income, and $22.9 million in taxable income. They paid $999,466 in federal income taxes. Trump and his wife declared $4.44 million in gross income, including $2.97 million in taxable income, on their 2019 return. They paid $133,445 in taxes. The 2020 return declared a negative income of $4.69 million and no taxable income. They paid no taxes and claimed a refund of $5.47 million. The returns show huge losses for many Trump properties over six years. For example, a 2015 tax return for “DJT [Donald J. Trump] Holdings LLC” showed a $12 million loss for Trump Turnberry Scotland. The Turnberry golf course lost millions of dollars every year until the last year of Trump’s presidency, returns show. Trump paid $63 million for his purchase of the property in 2014, according to an Independent report at the time. Trump’s Washington, DC hotel in the Old Post Office building lost millions of dollars each year during his first term in office, tax returns show The hotel is a hub of activity for Trump allies and others hoping to curry favor with the former president, and GOP-aligned political committees have spent tens of millions of dollars there. Trump’s company completed struck a deal to buy the building in 2013, settling a 60-year lease and putting about $200 million into developing it into a hotel. NBC News reported a property has lost more than $70 million while Trump has been in office. The Trump Organization announced earlier this year that it had closed a $375 million sale of the Old Post Of fice property. Trump reported foreign bank accounts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and China on his returns from 2015 to 2017. 2018 to 2020 only lists one UK account

The Democratic-led panel released the returns just days before Republicans are set to take control of the House. A majority of House GOP lawmakers have defended Trump, who has launched another bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

In a Trump campaign statement Friday, the former president criticized the House panel for releasing the returns and the Supreme Court for allowing the committee to obtain them.

Trump defended the documents as “again showing how successful I have been and how I have used depreciation and various tax cuts as an incentive to create thousands of jobs and good structures and businesses.”

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The former president broke decades of precedent by refusing to release his tax returns as a candidate in the 2016 election. The 2024 campaign will be Trump’s third bid for president but the first in which the public will have a clearer picture of his finances and business record.

The Democratic-led Ways and Means Committee said it wanted Trump’s tax returns as part of an investigation into how the IRS evaluates presidential returns. The agency is required to audit the sitting president’s returns each year.

House Republicans have suggested their new majority will take a softer tone toward Trump and push to investigate the Biden administration.

In a statement on Friday, Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, that Democrats have unleashed “a dangerous new political weapon” by releasing the returns.

CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

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