President Donald Trump broke with 40 years of precedent when he refused to release his tax returns during his campaign. Now California lawmakers want to force him to decide between sharing his returns or giving up his spot on the state’s 2020 presidential ballot. California would become the first state in the country to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns if a bill passed by the Legislature last week is signed by Gov. Jerry Brown. But legal scholars say there are significant questions whether the legislation passes constitutional muster. And it’s not clear whether Brown, who didn’t release his own tax returns in his most recent two gubernatorial races, backs the bill. “You can bet that if Governor Brown signs it, the second the ink is dry someone will sue,” said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who says there are strong constitutional arguments on both sides of the issue.
State Republican Party officials acknowledge that Trump doesn’t have a chance of winning deep blue California, but GOP officials are worried about the possibility of a 2020 ballot without Trump because it would hugely depress GOP turnout.
Trump said during the 2016 presidential campaign that he couldn’t share his returns because of an Internal Revenue Service audit, becoming the first major-party candidate since President Gerald Ford to decline to do so. More recently, he’s argued that Americans “don’t care at all” about his taxes.
Full Article: Could California force Trump to release his tax returns?.