Another day, another day we learn that Donald Trump is a daggone liar.

On Friday, six years worth of Donald Trump’s federal tax returns were released, providing a detailed look into the former president’s financial affairs. The release of the returns was the result of a vote by the House Ways and Means Committee earlier this month, which decided to make the returns public. Trump had refused to voluntarily release the returns during his campaign and presidency, citing an ongoing audit by the IRS. However, the IRS did not audit Trump until 2019, when the committee, led by Chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, requested the returns.

CORRECTION: We detailed how the IRS did not audit Trump’s tax returns through the mandatory presidential audit. However, we failed to mention that Trump was under PERSONAL audit for many years, as detailed by The New York Times. We apologize for the error and promise to do better in the future.

With Joe Biden winning the presidency in 2020, it has once again become common for sitting presidents to release their tax returns to the public. Biden has made more than 20 years of his federal tax returns available for viewing online, including returns from his time as vice president under President Barack Obama and during his two years as President.

When the federal tax returns of Trump and Biden from 2015 to 2020 are compared, we learn that Biden paid $4.1 million more in taxes than Trump. The records reveal significant differences between the two men’s tax returns, with Trump’s finances appearing more complex and potentially making it more challenging for the IRS to audit him.

Biden’s Tax Returns

A side-by-side comparison of the tax returns for Trump and the current President isn’t exactly black and white.

Overall, Biden’s federal tax returns show that he paid at least a 23% net tax rate between 2015 and 2020. His returns are relatively straightforward, showing a consistent income and corresponding tax payments each year. In contrast, Trump’s returns are more complex, with fluctuating income and varying tax payments, ranging from $999,466 in 2018 to nothing in 2020. In 2015, Biden’s total income was over $392,000 and he paid a net tax of more than $91,000, approximately 23% of his income.

In the following years, Biden’s taxes remained stable, with the exception of a two-year period in which his income increased significantly, from over $396,000 in 2016 to over $11 million in 2017 and over $4.5 million in 2018. The majority of this income in 2017 came from royalties, likely due to the publication of his bestselling memoir “Promise Me, Dad” that year. As a result, his taxes also increased significantly, to over $3.7 million in 2017 and over $1.5 million in 2018. In 2019, his income decreased to less than $1 million, and he paid nearly $300,000 in taxes. In 2020, Biden reported a total income of $607,336 and paid a net tax of over $157,000.

Trump’s Tax Returns

During the same six-year period, Trump’s tax returns show a pattern of fluctuating between loss and gain. In 2015, Trump reported a loss of $31,736,841 on his federal tax returns, but he still paid $641,931 in taxes despite nearly $1.5 million in tax credits, largely due to the alternative minimum tax, which prevents high-income taxpayers from reducing their tax payable below a certain level. Trump also reported losses in 2016 and 2017, with a total income of -$32,190,169 in 2016 and -$12,819,400 in 2017, and paid a net tax of $750 in both years.

In 2018, Trump’s second year in office, his federal tax returns showed a total income of $24,395,093, and he paid $999,466 in net tax, equivalent to 4% of his reported total income. In 2019, the first year Trump was audited by the IRS, he reported an income of $4,443,503 and paid a net tax of $133,445, or 3% of his reported total income. In 2020, Trump’s income again dipped into the negative, with a reported total income of -$4,694,058, and he paid no net tax.

Trump has opposed the release of his federal tax returns, but on Friday, he highlighted his business expertise as evidence of his success on Truth Social.

“The ‘Trump’ tax returns once again show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises,” the press release published on Trump’s Truth Social said.

From 2015 to 2020, Trump paid $1,776,342 in taxes while Biden paid $5,914,579. Trump earned $28,838,596 in the two years he reported positive income and Biden made $17,999,610 over the entire six years.

And yet, Biden paid $4,138,237 more in taxes than Trump. How fair is that? And yet, Trump’s supporters will find a way to justify it.