Despite Mandate, I.R.S. Delayed Auditing Trump in Office, House Panel Finds

"The Joint Committee on Taxation report released Tuesday said that in September 2020, after The Times published its investigation, the I.R.S. met to discuss issues the reporting had raised about Mr. Trump's 2017 filings -- spurring the agency to look at them, too."

"As a result, he paid $999,466 in federal income taxes for 2018."

"The New York attorney general has sued Mr. Trump and three of his children, accusing them of lying to lenders and insurers by fraudulently overvaluing his assets."

This is a negative sentiment.

"When he finally issued a decision in late 2021, he acknowledged that the law was on the committee's side but warned that he thought putting out Mr. Trump's taxes would be a bad idea."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The revelation could transform the political context of the committee's nearly four-year fight to obtain information about Mr. Trump's taxes and any related audits."

This is a negative sentiment.

"When combined with tax records previously obtained by The New York Times, the records show that in 2018, Mr. Trump had positive taxable income for the first time in more than a decade."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Before the vote, Republicans also criticized Democrats for issuing an analysis of Mr. Trump's taxes, portraying them as hasty and noting that they had only studied them for a few weeks."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The committee debated behind closed doors for more than four hours before voting to make public Mr. Trump's returns."

This is a positive sentiment.

"In 2016, Mr. Rettig, then a tax lawyer in Beverly Hills, Calif., published a column in Forbes that defended Mr. Trump's decision not to release his taxes as a candidate."

This is a negative sentiment.

"nnJohn A. Koskinen, the former I.R.S. commissioner who served during the first year of Trump's presidency, said in an interview that he was not involved in the presidential audit process and that he did not know why the audits did not occur."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California praised the effort in a statement, and the House scheduled a vote this week on legislation proposed by Mr. Neal to require an annual audit of the president's finances, according to a notice from Democratic leaders."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California praised the effort in a statement, and the House scheduled a vote this week on legislation proposed by Mr. Neal to require an annual audit of the president's finances, according to a notice from Democratic leaders."

This is a positive sentiment.

"That effort faced further delay after the committee's lawsuit landed before a Trump appointee, Judge Trevor N. McFadden of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The committee invoked a century-old statute that allows it to lawfully make public otherwise confidential tax information involving Mr. Trump, who had defied tradition by refusing to disclose his financial information as a presidential candidate and sitting president."

This is a negative sentiment.

""What was clear today is that public disclosure of President Trump's private tax returns has nothing to do with the stated purpose of reviewing the I.R.S. presidential audit process.""

This is a negative sentiment.

"Although the returns the committee received contain more recent data, The Times has also investigated Mr. Trump's taxes, including obtaining tax-return data in 2020 that covered more than two decades."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But House Democrats faced a time squeeze because Republicans on the committee will most likely drop the matter when they take over next month, and Mr. Trump had used the slow pace of litigation to run out the clock on their oversight efforts."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But the Trump administration would not let the Treasury Department comply with the request."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The Joint Committee on Taxation report released Tuesday said that in September 2020, after The Times published its investigation, the I.R.S. met to discuss issues the reporting had raised about Mr. Trump's 2017 filings -- spurring the agency to look at them, too."

This is a negative sentiment.

"The move brought to an end a prolonged battle by the House to obtain Mr. Trump's returns."

This is a positive sentiment.

"The suggestion of dysfunction in the auditing program was an early takeaway in what could be a series of disclosures related to the release of Mr. Trump's returns."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Mr. Neal's report called for Congress to codify into law that the I.R.S. conduct mandatory audits of presidents while they are in office and to publicly disclose related information."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Mr. Neal had first requested access to Mr. Trump's tax returns in 2019, after Democrats won control of the House in the midterm elections and began trying to perform oversight of Mr. Trump."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Mr. Neal had first requested access to Mr. Trump's tax returns in 2019, after Democrats won control of the House in the midterm elections and began trying to perform oversight of Mr. Trump."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Representative Kevin Brady of Texas, the top Republican on the panel, condemned the vote afterward."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Mr. Trump filed returns in 2017 for the two previous tax years, but the I.R.S. began auditing those filings only in 2019 -- the first on the same day in April the Ways and Means Committee requested access to his taxes and any associated audits, a report by the panel said."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Democrats said it might be several days before thousands of pages of tax filings from Mr. Trump and several associated businesses from 2015 to 2020 became public as they redacted sensitive details, like street addresses and bank account numbers."

This is a negative sentiment.

"nnIt was not immediately clear why the I.R.S. delayed starting auditing the tax returns Mr. Trump filed as president."

This is a negative sentiment.

"nnProsecutors in New York had already obtained access to some Trump-related tax data, and his family business has been the subject of multiple investigations."

This is a negative sentiment.

""The Ways and Means Committee's solemn oversight work has revealed the urgent need for legislation to ensure the public can trust in real accountability and transparency during the audit of a sitting president's tax returns -- not only in the case of President Trump, but for any president," Ms. Pelosi said."

This is a negative sentiment.

""The Ways and Means Committee's solemn oversight work has revealed the urgent need for legislation to ensure the public can trust in real accountability and transparency during the audit of a sitting president's tax returns -- not only in the case of President Trump, but for any president," Ms. Pelosi said."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But Mr. Neal said that when the committee had inquired, "Rettig said at different points that they were simply outgued" and that the I.R.S. said it lacked specialists capable of assessing Mr. Trump's filings."

This is a negative sentiment.

"But Mr. Neal said that when the committee had inquired, "Rettig said at different points that they were simply outgued" and that the I.R.S. said it lacked specialists capable of assessing Mr. Trump's filings."

This is a negative sentiment.

"Starting in 2018, the I.R.S. was run by a Trump appointee, Charles P. Rettig, who left the post last month."

This is a negative sentiment.

"nnIt is not clear whether the release of the records would reveal major findings given past disclosures about Mr. Trump's finances."

This is a negative sentiment.

"After the vote, Mr. Neal, who as the committee's chairman requested Mr. Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department, praised the panel's handling of the documents."

This is a positive sentiment.

"After the vote, Mr. Neal, who as the committee's chairman requested Mr. Trump's tax returns from the Treasury Department, praised the panel's handling of the documents."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Its chairman, Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, had said the panel needed the data to assess the I.R.S.'s mandatory presidential audit program, but Mr. Trump's lawyers and Republicans called that a pretext for a politically motivated fishing expedition."

This is a positive sentiment.

"Its chairman, Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, had said the panel needed the data to assess the I.R.S.'s mandatory presidential audit program, but Mr. Trump's lawyers and Republicans called that a pretext for a politically motivated fishing expedition."

This is a positive sentiment.