CALIFORNIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP TAXES: “Democratic Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill on Sunday [10-15-17] that was hailed as an effort to force President Donald Trump and future White House hopefuls to disclose their personal tax returns in order to be put on the California ballot.
Brown argued that the measure would likely be overturned by the courts, casting serious doubt in its future…
The bill would have required any presidential candidate to disclose five years of income tax returns in order to be included on California’s primary election ballot. Brown recently gave his stamp of approval to a measure jumping California’s primary up to the beginning of March, three months earlier than its contest in 2016.
California Congresswoman Anna Eshoo introduced a similar bill in the House back in June of 2016, the ‘Presidential Tax Transparency Act,’ which would have made the disclosure of federal tax returns compulsory for any presidential nominee of a major political party. A related bill was introduced and placed on the Senate’s legislative calendar in September of 2016.
While tax returns are by law confidential, presidential candidates throughout American history have voluntarily released them during their respective campaigns as a sign of transparency. The issue of Mr. Trump’s unwillingness to turn over his tax documents became an issue of contention throughout the 2016 campaign, making him the only president since Gerald Ford not to follow the long-held tradition.”
-Emily Tillet, “Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown vetoes presidential candidate tax return disclosure bill,” CBS News, Oct. 16, 2017 11:22am