Show and tell: New York must expose Trump's taxes
By DAILY NEWS EDITORIAL BOARD
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
APR 05, 2019 |
Invoking his legal authority as House Ways and Means Committee chairman to examine tax returns, Rep. Richie Neal has requested that the IRS commissioner deliver Donald Trump’s 1040s for the past six years. He wants the returns by next Wednesday.
We’ll bet six times $1,040 that he’ll be empty-handed for many Wednesdays to come as Trump and his Treasury appointees refuse, blathering bunk about an ongoing audit.
But even if Neal gets the returns, he must keep them confidential, defeating the purpose of making public presidential tax returns, a norm for 50 years that Trump has breached, hiding financial conflicts and who knows what else.
The surer and faster path to get Trump’s financial details is in Albany, with a bill requiring that the state Department of Taxation and Finance “post on its website certain New York State income tax returns the department has on file for the president, the vice president, New York’s U.S. senators, governor, lieutenant governor, controller and attorney general” going back five years.
Since Trump files state income tax returns, we’ll get to see those at least, a significant boost to transparency.
More: https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-edit-show-and-tell-20190405-ne6cqav4v5dixddpzxteiei3qq-story.html
