President's Tax Return Bill By Rep Eshoo Headed To House

PALO ALTO, CA -- A congressional subcommittee has scheduled a hearing next week to discuss proposed legislation by U.S. Reps. Anna G. Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, and Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey that mandates sitting presidents and candidates for the office of major parties to publicly disclose their tax returns.

H.R. 273, called the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, takes direct aim at U.S. President Donald Trump, who after two years has failed to do so, despite expressed intentions to. When asked about it, Trump is relegated to playing the "audit" card, which means he won't release them while he's being audited. Given the president's sketchy business dealings, that may be never.

Nonetheless, the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight -- under Democratic control now -- has slated Feb. 7 to assess the legislation that requires the 10 most recent federal income tax returns. The bill was introduced about three weeks ago.

“Next week’s hearing on the Presidential Tax Transparency Act by the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight is a welcome sign that transparency remains a central focus of our new Congress,” the two lawmakers said jointly in an issued statement. “Before 2016, presidential candidates routinely disclosed their tax returns. Donald Trump refused to clear that low bar, and as a result the American people remain in the dark about the extent of his financial entanglements and potential conflicts of interest. We look forward to using this first hearing to discuss the critical importance of full tax disclosure for any man or woman seeking the presidency and how our Presidential Tax Transparency Act would create permanent sunlight for our nation.”

According to the Tax History Project, all presidents since 1976 have released their tax returns while in office, but this practice is not required by current law. If a president or candidate fails to disclose the tax returns, the Internal Revenue Service is required to provide redacted copies to the Federal Elections Commission for public disclosure.

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