WASHINGTON — In a clear shot at Donald Trump, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee wants to force presidential nominees to release their tax returns.
And if candidates like Trump decline to do so? He wants the Internal Revenue Service and federal election officials to do it for them.
“Tax returns deliver honest answers to key questions from the American public,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden said in announcing legislation. “Do you even pay taxes? Do you give to charity? Are you abusing tax loopholes at the expense of middle class families? Are you keeping your money offshore? People have a right to know.”
The proposal comes as Trump faces rising pressure to release his tax returns, a practice candidates have voluntarily honored for decades. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has declined, giving various reasons from personal privacy to an ongoing audit.
A summary from the Finance Committee’s minority office explains that Wyden wants to make it a law for party presidential nominees to turn over such information.
Specifically, the bill would amend federal election law to require filing three years worth of tax return information with the Federal Election Commission within 15 days of formally securing nomination.
Under Wyden’s plan, if a candidate does not voluntarily turn over tax returns within a month, the FEC would be directed to obtain the information directly from the IRS through a request to the secretary of the Treasury.