Bill To Help Congress Get Trump's NY Tax Returns Signed By Cuomo

NEW YORK — If lawmakers in Congress want to see President Donald Trump's New York tax returns, all they have to do is ask. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law Monday allowing the Department of Taxation and Finance to release certain government officials' state tax returns to a select few congressional committees upon request.

The measure, which the state Legislature passed in May, gives the Democratic House of Representatives a helping hand as lawmakers fight to get Trump's federal tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service.

"Tax secrecy is paramount — the exception being for bonafide investigative and law enforcement purposes," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement Monday. "... (T)his bill gives Congress the ability to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities, strengthen our democratic system and ensure that no one is above the law."

The new law allows the the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation to obtain public officials' New York tax returns from the state. The committee's chair will have to submit a written request indicating that they need the documents for a legitimate legislative purpose and that they have sought related information from the U.S. Treasury secretary.

The measure applies to the president, vice president, presidential staffers, cabinet officials and New York's members of Congress, along with statewide elected officials, state legislators, state employees, judges, political leaders and local elected officials. Personal information and any attached federal returns will have to be redacted from the state documents.

Cuomo signed the law less than a week after the House reportedly sued the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department to get ahold of Trump's federal tax returns. The House Ways and Means Committee tried unsuccessfully earlier this year to obtain the returns, which Trump has declined to release in contravention of a longtime tradition for presidential candidates.

Trump's state returns could be of interest to Congress because he owns residences in the state and his private company, the Trump Organization, is headquartered in Manhattan. The state law could face a legal challenge, as the Trump adminstration has fought Congress's efforts to get ahold of his federal tax returns.

The measure became law days after Trump lashed out at Cuomo and state Attorney General Letitia James on Twitter. He accused the governor of using James — whom he did not mention by name — as a "bludgeoning tool" and said the attorney general was "harassing all of my New York businesses in search of anything at all they can find to make me look as bad as possible."