More than a dozen House Democrats have proposed legislation that would force Donald Trump to release his tax returns soon after he is nominated as the Republican presidential nominee in July.
While Trump has said he wants to release his tax returns, he has also said that he may not be able to before the election because he is being audited. However, the IRS has responded by saying nothing in the law prevents Trump from releasing his tax information.
The Democratic bill from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., doesn’t specifically name Trump, but it would force Trump’s hand by requiring him and other major party candidates to release their tax information soon after receiving the nomination of their parties. Both Trump and Hillary Clinton will officially become the nominees in late July.
Under her Presidential Tax Transparency Act, candidates would have to release three years of tax returns within 15 days of becoming the nominee.
The bill also holds that if a candidate still has not released their tax returns after 30 days, the Federal Election Commission would have to ask the Treasury Department to release those returns. The legislation isn’t clear on whether the Treasury Department would have to release those returns, but the bill seems to imply that Treasury would have to hand them over.
It also says returns provided to the FEC either by the candidate or the Treasury Department “shall be made publicly available.”
“The American people justifiably have the expectation that those who are the nominees for the highest office in the land should be open and transparent about their tax returns,” Eshoo said Tuesday.
“As former presidential candidate Mitt Romney stated earlier this year, ‘tax returns provide the public with its sole confirmation of the veracity of a candidate’s representations regarding charities, priorities, wealth, tax conformance, and conflicts of interest,'” she added. “I couldn’t agree more, and that’s why I’ve introduced this important legislation.”
Her bill is a companion to legislation proposed in the Senate by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. Read it here:
