A House panel voted to publicly release a report on Trump's tax returns

The Democrat-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday to release a report related to former President Donald Trump's tax returns. The report covers 2015 through 2020 of the former president's tax filings.

In a vote split along party lines, the Democrats on the panel voted in support of the release while Republicans voted against the measure.

Whether or not to release the former president's tax records has become a point of contention, with Republicans arguing that doing so would set a dangerous precedent.

Democrats on the panel had argued that the president's tax returns were necessary for the panel to evaluate the IRS's presidential audit program. In response, Trump filed an emergency application on Oct. 31 to block the release. But the the Supreme Court denied Trump's request to block the committee's request, clearing the way for the records to be released.

Democrats' fight for Trump's tax returns on a legal front have been ongoing for more than three years, beginning in 2019, with then House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass.

He requested the IRS turnover then-President Trump's tax returns spanning 2013 to 2018, but was denied by the Treasury Department, which oversees the IRS. The department said the request was not supported by a legitimate legislative purpose, NPR previously reported, and was "pretextual."

Brady asked committee Democrats to reconsider before the issue was brought to a vote.

"We urge Democrats to turn back while they still can. If they release tax returns today it will be a stain on this committee," Brady told reporters.

Brady also stated that releasing the returns would unleash a new weapon for partisan politicians who would use tax filings against the opposition.

"Ways and Means Democrats are unleashing a dangerous new political weapon that reaches far beyond President Trump, and jeopardizes the privacy of every American," Brady said in a statement last week. "Going forward, partisans in Congress have nearly unlimited power to target political enemies by obtaining and making public their private tax returns to embarrass and destroy them."

Brady added that releasing confidential records wouldn't be limited to public officials, but potentially private citizens, businesses, labor leaders and even Supreme Court Justices.

Neal said, following the vote, "This was not about being punitive, it was not about being malicious."

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