A Washington federal trial judge was urged Tuesday to force the U.S. Treasury Department to disclose to House committee members several years of President Donald Trump's tax returns, an escalation of a dispute that comes after the administration refused to comply with a congressional subpoena.

“In refusing to comply with the statute, defendants have mounted an extraordinary attack on the authority of Congress to obtain information needed to conduct oversight of Treasury, the IRS, and the tax laws on behalf of the American people who participate in the nation's voluntary tax system,” lawyers for the House Ways and Means Committee said in the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Treasury and Justice Department officials have rebuffed the committee's demand, arguing that Democrats have not stated a valid reason why they must review Trump's tax returns. Separately, Trump's private lawyers are fighting in two appeals courts to quash subpoenas that seek information from Deutsche Bank and from the president's longtime accounting firm Mazars USA.

Federal law permits the House Ways and Means Committee to inspect the returns of any private citizen, and lawmakers are not required to state a reason, the House general counsel's office, led by Douglas Letter, said in the lawsuit.

“But the committee's need for the materials requested here is evident,” Letter wrote in the complaint. “The committee is investigating the IRS's administration of various tax laws and policies relating to presidential tax returns and tax law compliance by President Trump, including whether the IRS's self-imposed policy of annually auditing the returns of sitting presidents is working properly, even though it has not been updated in decades.”

Trump was the first presidential candidate in modern history to refuse to voluntarily release tax returns during the campaign. Trump vowed he would release those returns, but only after an audit was complete. Despite any audit, tax experts said, nothing prohibited Trump from disclosing those returns.

“Without reviewing the requested return materials, the committee cannot ensure that the IRS's audit process is functioning fairly and effectively, understand how provisions of the tax code are implicated by President Trump's returns, or exercise its legislative judgment to determine whether changes to the code may be warranted,” Letter wrote in the complaint.

Read the complaint below: