CARBONDALE, Ill. — The Democrat running for Illinois' 12th Congressional District seat has released 10 years of tax returns and urged his Republican opponent to do the same.

Former Illinois National Guard Adjutant General William Enyart brought the stack of tax returns to a news conference Thursday at The Southern Illinoisan. Enyart said he also has asked the Internal Revenue Service for tax records dating back to 1982 and plans to release those as well.

"The people you hire to write your tax policy, to write your budgets must be open and transparent about their interests in that tax policy," Enyart said. "The only way for that to happen is for candidates to publicly release their tax returns."