Presidential tax return disclosure bill headed for California Senate vote

State Sen. Mike McGuire’s bill requiring presidential candidates to release five years of tax returns in order to qualify for the California primary election ballot - one of about ?30 similar measures pending before state legislatures nationwide - is due for a Senate vote this week.

McGuire, D-Healdsburg, said his bill is aimed at President Donald Trump’s refusal to release tax returns for his years as a billionaire real estate mogul, a dispute compounded by the controversy over his campaign’s potential ties to Russia.

As that scandal continues to grow, McGuire said in a statement, “we still don’t know the full extent of his dealings and the serious conflicts of interest they continue to generate.”

McGuire’s bill, the Presidential Tax Transparency & Accountability Act, or SB 149, says Trump’s tax secrecy “departed from decades of established political tradition, denying voters the opportunity to fully evaluate his fitness for the office of president of the United States.”

Every president since Jimmy Carter has voluntarily released at least three years of tax returns, according to the Tax History Project. Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, along with Republicans Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, released returns during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump released two pages of his 2005 tax return in March, indicating he paid $38 million in federal income tax on more than $150 million in income. The disclosure came only after a cable television news show said it would release the information.

Nearly two-thirds of registered voters said Congress should pass a law requiring future presidential candidates to release the previous few years ?of their tax returns while 33 percent said it should not, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in March.

The tax issue is “blatantly political,” said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist, adding that such a law “would certainly raise some constitutional questions.”

Experts have disputed the legal point, and a court battle could drag on for years. Trump’s current stance signals he likely would not comply with a California disclosure law in 2020, McCuan said.

State lawmakers are stepping up, however, filing 32 versions of candidate tax disclosure bills in 19 states, including California, according to The Hill, a political website.

The bills are “as good as dead” in states with Republican-led legislatures, the website said, noting that only one measure, in Minnesota, was introduced by a Republican.

In states controlled by Democrats, some bills are making progress, and in California, Democrats enjoy a supermajority in both legislative houses and hold the governor’s office.

McGuire’s bill, co-authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, requires presidential candidates to submit the past five years of their tax returns to the California Secretary of State, who would post the information on that office’s website.

“The trust of the American people in our government is being shaken with each revelation coming out of Washington about contacts, connections and possible collusion between the Trump administration and Russian officials,” Wiener said in a statement.

Passing the tax disclosure bill would help “rebuild that trust by ensuring transparency and accountability from future presidential candidates,’’ he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter ?@guykovner.