On Monday, New York legislators introduced a bill that would amend the state law to permit the N.Y. Department of Taxation and Finance commissioner to release any state tax return of President Donald Trump's that has been requested by the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee and the Joint Committee on Taxation for any "specific and legitimate legislative purpose."
The bill seeks to amend state laws which generally prohibit the release of such tax information. If passed, the congressional committees will have to file a request with the state after other efforts to gain access to federal tax filings through the Treasury Department have failed.
The introduction of the bill Monday comes days after House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., formally requested six years of Trump's personal and business tax filings from the IRS under a statute that allows him to demand an individual's tax returns. If the Treasury Department denies his request, that could set off a legal battle to obtain them.
Responding to that news, Trump told reporters he was "under audit" and would not be releasing the returns. Trump is the only major presidential candidate of either party since the early 1970s not to release his tax returns, and Democrats have pushed for him to release his taxes since the 2016 election.
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