Shortly before Sen. Bernie Sanders appeared on Fox News for a presidential campaign town hall in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the self-proclaimed “Socialist Democrat” released 10-years of his tax returns, a move that he had already vowed to make.
Sanders took the opportunity to suggested to President Trump that he release at least 10-years of his own tax returns.
Congressional Democrats, Hispanic Congressional Caucus, and Sanders are focused on pressuring Trump to release his tax returns, even though there is no mandate or law that says that a sitting U.S. President must release personal tax returns.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) stated last year that “one of the first things we'd do" and the "easiest thing in the world,” would be to get those tax returns released.
Now Pelosi & Co. are trying to make this a reality, as
Democrats have introduced the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, a bill that would require the IRS to make public 10-years of tax returns of future presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego (D) is one of the “proud” co-sponsors of the bill who is believes “Americans deserve accountability from their elected leaders.”
Democrats hope that by Trump releasing his tax returns, the documents will show that the 45th President of the United States has not paid his fair share of taxes.
Trump said as far back as 2016 that he would release his returns, but over the past couple of years, has all-but reversed himself, saying that “he may” release his tax returns.
A 2018 CNN story outlines what could be discovered, if Trump releases his returns, citing that “potential conflicts of interests” could be uncovered.
“Even further, his tax returns could help shed light on any potential conflicts of interests, such as whether he has foreign bank accounts, whether he paid taxes to foreign governments and whether he'd benefit from his own tax reform proposals.”
