On the deadline for Americans to file their taxes, the White House says President Joe Biden “soon” plans to resume the tradition of presidents releasing their tax returns.
During a White House press briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if the White House planned to release Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ tax returns.
“We will be soon releasing, as we believe is the transparent approach and what the public expects, the tax returns of the president. I’ll have to double-check on the vice president, but I would expect those will be out soon,” Psaki said.
When asked Biden’s taxes were audited if it would impact the decision to release his tax returns, Psaki said, “No, I would expect we will continue to release the president’s tax returns, as should be expected by every president of the United States.”
Watch the video below:
Psaki says White House will "soon" be releasing President Biden's tax returns, even if he is being audited
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 17, 2021
"We will continue to release the president's tax returns, as should be expected by every president of the United States." pic.twitter.com/oI19khoeCW
Former President Donald Trump broke a decades-old precedent by not releasing his tax returns as a candidate or president.
In 2016, Trump broke 40 years of the precedent of presidential nominees releasing their tax returns. During a presidential debate that year, he was asked if he would release his tax returns.
“I’m under a routine audit, and as soon as the audit is finished, it’ll be released,” he said at the time.
Four years later, during a debate with Biden, he was asked again if he would release his tax returns. He said, “First of all, I called my accountants under audit. I’m going to release them as soon as we can.”
Biden and Harris both released their tax returns during the 2020 presidential election. That move came after The New York Times reported that Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017, and in 10 out of 15 years, he paid no income tax.
In 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee, which is led by Democrats, filed a lawsuit against the Treasury Department in an effort to force it to hand over Trump’s federal tax returns.
Biden officials have reportedly not decided whether they will hand over the former president’s tax returns to the committee.