A NYT report on Pres. Trump's years of tax evasion is shining a new light on his long refusal to release his tax returns.

The NYT reported that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017, and paid no income taxes for 11 years.

As president, Trump has refused to comply with a 40-year tradition of presidents disclosing their tax returns.

But, in 1999, Trump, then mulling a presidential run, was relatively open to the idea during an interview with MSNBC.

Trump told MSNBC's Chris Matthews that he "wouldn't have a problem" releasing his tax returns.

In 2014, a year before his presidential campaign, Trump said that he "would love to" publicly release his tax returns.

During the 2016 GOP primary, Trump faced growing pressure from Republicans to release his tax returns.

Trump falsely argued during a debate that an audit from the IRS prevented him from disclosing his taxes.

Trump's argument was fact-checked by the Washington Post: "...an audit does not prohibit him from releasing the returns."

WaPo: "Richard Nixon, who started the tradition...did so in the middle of an audit."

Nevertheless, Trump has repeatedly used an ongoing IRS audit as an excuse to not release his taxes.

This claim from the second presidential debate was proven false by the NYT's report: he paid $95M in taxes over 18 years.

Trump is currently the subject of an ongoing IRS audit for a $72.9M+ tax refund he claimed in 2010. (NYT)

In 2018, Trump shifted his stance, instead saying that people wouldn't "understand them.": "It is big and it is complex..."

In July, SCOTUS ruled to allow NY investigators access to Trump's financial records. Trump tweeted that it was "not fair."