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Lauren Carroll
By Lauren Carroll April 26, 2017
Back to Release his tax returns after an audit is completed

Trump has 'no intention' of releasing tax returns, Steve Mnuchin says

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin takes a question in the briefing room of the White House April 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin takes a question in the briefing room of the White House April 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin takes a question in the briefing room of the White House April 26, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The 2017 tax filing season has come and gone, and President Donald Trump still hasn't made his tax returns public.

According to his Treasury secretary, it's not going to happen.

A reporter asked Steve Mnuchin if Trump will release his own returns during an April 26 press conference to lay out Trump's tax plan.

"The president has no intention," Mnuchin replied. "The president has released plenty of information and, I think, has given more financial disclosure than anybody else. I think the American population has plenty of information."

Trump was the first major presidential nominee in 40 years not to release his tax returns, citing a routine audit.

However, nothing prevents someone from making their tax returns public while undergoing an audit. President Richard Nixon, in fact, released his returns during one.

Trump promised that when the audit was over, he would release his returns.

Earlier in April, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump's audit was still ongoing, so there was no timeline on when he would release his, tax returns.

"We're under the same audit that existed, and so nothing has changed," Spicer said in an April 17 press briefing.

An interesting note: Since the 1970s and the Watergate era, all presidential tax returns undergo an IRS audit — "mandatory examination" — according to the IRS manual.

So the taxes Trump filed in 2017 actually do face an audit, but it's unknown how many past years of Trump's tax returns remain under audit. We'll only know Trump's audit is over if and when he decides to inform to the public.

Congressional Democrats have warned that if Trump doesn't release his personal returns, it will be difficult to accomplish tax reform. And the New York Times counted more than a dozen Republican lawmakers who say Trump should release them, not to mention broad public support.

Given Mnuchin's statement and the fact that the White House continues to drag its feet on releasing any of Trump's tax returns, we rate this promise Stalled.

Our Sources