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California presidential tax transparency bill approved in Senate; moves to Assembly
A bill to require that presidential candidates produce their birth certificate in order to be included on California’s ballot passed the State Senate late Wednesday and now moves on to the State Assembly.
SB 149 – the Presidential Tax Transparency & Accountability Act – was written by Sen. Mike McGuire, whose district includes Lake County, and Sen. Scott Wiener.
The bill moved forward despite a last minute attempt by California Senate Republicans to amend the bill to include a requirement that presidential candidates produce their birth certificate in order to be included on California’s ballot.
While McGuire said he was pleased that the bill moved forward, “It’s frankly astounding to me that some Republican senators would align themselves with one of the most racist attacks on a sitting president in modern history,” he said.
“Everyone knows that President Trump used the birth certificate issue against President Obama as a dog whistle to white supremacist groups. The truth is that we have never elected a president who was not a citizen. That has never been a problem and does not require a solution,” said McGuire.
“But we have elected a president – and he is currently in office – who has serious conflicts of interest that are endangering our national security and who is consistently violating ethical norms to enrich himself and his family. That’s a very serious problem which does require a solution – and the solution is SB 149,” he said.
SB 149 will require basic tax information to be shared with the American public and require that all presidential candidates release the last five years of their tax returns in order to appear on the California ballot.
The returns would also be made available to the public on the California Secretary of State Office’s Web site.
California is leading the way as states across the country move forward with similar legislation mandating the release of returns.
“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,” said Sen. Wiener. “While we can’t change what’s happened or how we got here, we can start doing the hard work to rebuild that trust by ensuring transparency and accountability from future presidential candidates. Passing SB 149 will help us to make sure the interests of the American public come before all else.”
Contrary to what President Donald Trump has stated in public – that Americans don’t care about his tax returns – 74 percent of respondents in national polls on the issue believe President Trump should release his tax returns.
Prior to Trump’s refusal to release any tax returns, for more than 40 years every president since Jimmy Carter had released at least one year of tax returns.
During the 2016 Presidential election, Hillary Clinton (Democratic) and Jill Stein (Green) both released their tax returns.
Following the bill’s 27-13 vote in the Senate on Wednesday, it was ordered to move on to the Assembly.
On Thursday it began its progress through the Assembly with a first reading, according to state legislative records.
