Unlike presidents, Donald Trump refused to release his tax returns while in office. (File)
Washington:
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday to turn former President Donald Trump’s tax returns over to a House of Representatives committee with a Democratic majority.
Trump, 76, who announced last week that he would seek the White House again in 2024, has been fighting for years to keep his tax returns secret.
Unlike presidents since the 1970s, Trump refused to release his tax returns while in office and went to court to block Congress’ request.
That legal battle appeared to be coming to an end on Tuesday when the Supreme Court ruled without comment that the charges should be turned over to the House Ways and Means Committee.
The House Ways and Means Committee has requested tax returns from Trump and his related business entities for the period 2015 to 2020.
Handing over the declarations to the committee does not necessarily mean that they are also made public.
The move comes with just a few weeks left in the term of the current Congress and Republican lawmakers will take over the House in January after winning a slim majority in the November 8 midterm elections.
While the Supreme Court has been thoroughly reviewed by Trump, his judges have never ruled in his favor, most notably authorizing the transfer of his tax records and business records to the Manhattan district attorney’s office in 2020.
Prosecutors in Manhattan have accused the Trump Organization of concealing compensation it paid top executives between 2005 and 2021.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NewsMadura staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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