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Trump files for extension on 2017 tax returns

The White House said Tuesday the president's returns would be filed by the Oct. 15 extension deadline.
Image: President Donald Trump waves from Air Force One upon arrival in West Palm Beach
Trump has long resisted calls for the public release of his tax returns.Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — President Donald Trump has filed an extension for his taxes for the second time since taking office, the White House said Tuesday.

"The president filed an extension for his 2017 tax return, as do many Americans with complex returns," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told NBC News. "He will file his tax return by the extension deadline of Oct. 15, 2018."

Tuesday was the filing deadline.

As a candidate and since taking office, Trump has refused to release his tax returns, breaking decades of tradition by past presidents who released their personal taxes for transparency.

Trump has repeatedly said that he would release them as soon as the Internal Revenue Service completes an audit, although experts say that audits don't prevent taxpayers from making public their returns.

A few of the president's tax return documents for earlier years were leaked to the media, including one last year obtained by NBC News. The returns, reported by MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," showed that Trump paid $38 million in federal income tax on more than $150 million in income for 2005.