State senator Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) is pushing legislation to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns in order to be listed on the ballot in California.
The legislation, SB 149, is titled the Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act.
According to the Times-Standard, McGuire cited President Trump as motivation for the bill, suggesting Trump’s refusal to release returns means “he’s obviously hiding something.”
McGuire added:
President Trump says the American people don’t care. He’s dead wrong. We know, in fact, that the American people do care about transparency and accountability and tax returns are one of the best tools California voters have to weigh any potential conflicts of interests their future leader has encumbered. California didn’t pick this fight, but we will respond to this unprecedented action and secrecy and ensure voters have the information they need to make the most important choice they have — voting for President.
Former Humboldt County Republican Party chairwoman Annette De Modena said she believes McGuire’s legislation is “a political move.” She added, “I don’t care if a politician shows me his tax return or not because it’s the measure of the man that matters.”
To De Modena’s point, the American people voted Trump into office on November 8 without ever seeing his tax returns. And De Modena believes the important thing–at this point–is that Trump “is following through on some of his campaign promises, such as pulling America out of the Trans Pacific Partnership and taking the preliminary steps to repeal the Affordable Care Act.”
She believes McGuire is trying to distract from what Trump is accomplishing.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and host of Bullets with AWR Hawkins, a Breitbart News podcast. He is also the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.