LOS ANGELES, CA — If President Donald Trump or any other presidential candidate wants to appear on the primary ballot in the nation’s most populous state, they’ll have to disclose their tax returns, according to a new bill signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Passed along party lines, the bill is sure to antagonize the president along with the Republican party. It’s also all but guaranteed to be challenged in court.
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Specifically Senate Bill 27, known as the Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act, requires presidential and gubernatorial candidates to disclose five years of tax returns in order to qualify for the primary election. Its supporters call it necessary to expose possibly dangerous conflicts of interest. Opponents contend it’s unconstitutional, a law drafted with the sole purpose of irritating one person: Trump.
“As one of the largest economies in the world and home to one in nine Americans eligible to vote, California has a special responsibility to require this information of presidential and gubernatorial candidates,” Newsom stated in signing the bill. “These are extraordinary times and states have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards, and to restore public confidence. The disclosure required by this bill will shed light on conflicts of interest, self-dealing, or influence from domestic and foreign business interest.”
Newsom went on to defend the constitutionality of the law, which is what critics see as its vulnerability.
“The Constitution is clear on the qualifications for someone to serve as president and states cannot add additional requirements on their own,” Tim Murtaugh, communications director for the president’s reelection campaign told the Los Angeles Times. “The bill also violates the 1st Amendment right of association, since California can’t tell political parties which candidates their members can or cannot vote for in a primary election.”
Since California handed the president his single biggest loss among states in the 2016 race by a margin of more than 3 million votes, the state has led the charge to resist the president’s policies, mainly through court battles. The new law comes on the heels of the state’s biggest political victory over the president — a deal with automakers last week to reduce emissions in defiance of the administration’s more lax standards. With the tax return law, California is taking direct aim at the president.
President Trump is was the major first presidential candidate in decades to break with tradition in refusing to release his tax returns. He initially vowed to release them at the conclusion of an IRS audit. However, he has since backtracked and is fighting tooth and nail to resist Congressional efforts to obtain his taxes.
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