New York Lawmakers Pass Bill to Hand Over Trump’s Tax Returns to Congress

New York state lawmakers approved a bill Wednesday that would allow state tax officials to turn over President Trump’s state tax returns to Congress.

The bill, which is expected to be signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, authorizes tax authorities to hand over Trump’s tax returns to any one of three congressional committees, The New York Times reports.

The state returns likely include much of the same information as his federal tax returns, which the Treasury Department refuses to turn over. That fight is expected to be resolved in court.

It remains unclear if the Congressional committees plan to request the tax returns from the state. Trump is expected to try to contest the New York move in court as well, according to The Times.

Trump admin refuses to turn over tax returns despite law:

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier this week that the administration has no plans to turn over Trump’s federal tax returns despite a leaked confidential IRS legal memo confirming that federal law requires the Treasury to turn over any tax returns requested by the House Ways and Means Committee and does not provide a mechanism for the secretary to refuse any such request.

The committee says it will continue working to get Trump’s federal returns regardless of New York’s latest move.

“Our request to the Internal Revenue Service was in furtherance of an investigation into the mandatory presidential audit program at the I.R.S.,” committee spokesman Daniel Rubin told The Times. “State returns would not help us evaluate this program.”

New York lawmakers also target Trump’s pardon power:

The move to turn over the tax returns came after New York lawmakers passed a bill to allow state prosecutors to charge any person with state crimes even if they have been pardoned by the president for federal crimes.

 

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