New York Democrats are looking to help Congress in its fight to obtain President Trump's tax returns.
Democrats in the New York state legislature will introduce a new bill that would allow the president's state tax returns to be released if Congress requests them, The New York Times and NBC News report. Although it's Trump's federal tax returns that House Democrats are trying to obtain, the Times notes that his state filings would likely have a lot of the same information.
The bill says that the New York Department of Taxation and Finance can hand anyone's state tax returns to the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the Joint Committee on Taxation when requested for a "specific and legitimate legislative purpose."
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The chair of the House Ways and Means Committee has already formally requested six years of Trump's taxes, but Trump's lawyer has urged the Treasury Department not to comply, arguing the committee has no legitimate reason for obtaining the tax filings. The White House is reportedly ready to take this messy legal situation all the way to the Supreme Court, per CNN.
If this new bill is passed, though, any effort to obtain Trump's state taxes would only happen after Congress fails to obtain his federal taxes, NBC News notes. State Sen. Brad Hoylman told the Times that if the Trump administration blocks Congress from receiving the president's federal tax returns, this New York law would essentially be a "safety valve." Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney confidently declared on Sunday that Democrats will "never" see Trump's tax returns.
