CONGRESS/NEW YORK/TRUMP TAXES: “The New York Legislature passed a bill yesterday that could let members of Congress do something few have: look at President Trump’s tax returns, legally. The bill may lead to further insight into the vast and complex network of Mr. Trump’s business activities, which he has vigorously tried to conceal for decades. After Times reporters obtained printouts from Mr. Trump’s I.R.S. tax transcripts for the years 1985 through 1994, they reported that he had lost $1 billion in just 10 years. The printouts were sent by a person who had legal access to them. Mr. Trump and some of his supporters say the interest in his taxes is a political witch hunt meant to derail his White House agenda. How did the hunt for Mr. Trump’s tax returns end up in Albany? The hunt is in New York because Mr. Trump, who was born in Queens, lived here for years. Until Mr. Trump moved into the White House, he lived and worked in Manhattan. That meant he filed taxes in New York, and that the information is in the hands of state officials. Democrats, who have long occupied the governor’s office, recently took full control of the Legislature, giving them the power to write a bill to release tax returns under certain circumstances.”
–Azi Paybarah, “How New York Cleared a Path for Congress to Get Trump’s Tax Returns,” The new York Times online, May 23, 2019