President Donald Trump has reneged on a pledge to release his tax returns after an IRS audit, confirming what many have long suspected: that the real obstacle to disclosure is Trump himself.

The tax returns came up in a May 4 discussion with The Economist when a reporter asked the president if he would be willing to trade his tax returns for Democratic votes on a tax plan.

After incorrectly saying that only reporters care about his returns, Trump said he "might release them after I'm out of office." That was new to us given Trump had previously said he would not release them because he is under an audit.

"I'm under a routine audit, and it'll be released, and as soon as the audit is finished it will be released," Trump said at the first presidential debate in September.

The back-and-forth between The Economist, Trump and several administration members is worth reading in full (emphasis ours):

The Economist: "If you do need Democratic support for your ideal tax plan, and the price of that the Democrats say is for you to release your tax returns, would you do that?"

Trump: "I don't know. That's a very interesting question. I doubt it. I doubt it. Because they're not going to…nobody cares about my tax return except for the reporters. Oh, at some point I'll release them. Maybe I'll release them after I'm finished, because I'm very proud of them actually. I did a good job."

Hope Hicks, White House director of strategic communication: "Once the audit is over."

Trump: "I might release them after I'm out of office."

Three things are noteworthy about the end of this exchange. First is Hicks' attempt to prod Trump back on script about his IRS audit being the grounds for nondisclosure, and second is Trump's sidestepping of this cue. The most remarkable point is Trump's new position that he reserves the right not to release his tax returns until after he's left office.

This contrasts sharply with campaign messaging that saw Trump and his surrogates give more than a dozen excuses for why he was the first presidential nominee in nearly 40 years not to release his tax returns, with new reasons tacked on after he was elected.

One such argument was that Trump's financial disclosures more than make up for not releasing his tax returns -- and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin alluded to this in the Economist interview. But as we've shown before, this is a red herring because tax returns may reveal financial information like charitable giving and income sources not necessarily covered in Trump's financial disclosure.

Eventually Trump's refusal came to rest upon the IRS audit, which he even alluded to later in the Economist interview. The IRS, however, has said nothing precludes a president from releasing tax returns while under audit (Nixon did).

But here the president has indicated for the first time that he will not necessarily release his tax returns after the IRS audit. Rather, he reserves the right to keep his tax returns under seal during his time in the White House.

They say sunlight's the best disinfectant, and despite Trump's alternative facts about lagging public interest, most voters want to see his shrouded tax returns exposed to the light of day. In fact, two in three voters now believe Congress should pass a law requiring future presidential candidates to release the previous few years of their tax returns.

But given Trump's backpedaling, Americans will be kept in the dark for the foreseeable future — and not for the reason previously described. We rate this Promise Broken.