Is there a law requiring the sharing of tax returns of Presidents of the US/POTUS or candidates for POTUS?
http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/Web/PresidentialTaxReturns
Now there is a law that the House Ways and Means committee can examine any citizen's tax return, which presumably includes the president's but that particular nuance has never been tested in court. That also does not necessarily result in public disclosure of the president's tax returns.
See section F parts 1 & 2.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103
26 U.S. Code § 6103 - Confidentiality and disclosure of returns and return information
The term “return” means any tax or information return, declaration of estimated tax, or claim for refund required by, or provided for or permitted under, the provisions of this title which is filed with the Secretary by, on behalf of, or with respect to any person, and any amendment or supplement thereto, including supporting schedules, attachments, or lists which are supplemental to, or part of, the return so filed.
http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/white-house/article117755838.html
Tax History Project -- Presidential Tax Returns
Individual income tax returns — including those of public figures — are private information, protected by law from unauthorized disclosure. Indeed, the Internal Revenue Service is barred from releasing any taxpayer information whatsoever, except to authorized agencies and individuals.
So any committee chairman who wants automatic public release of a candidates tax return is going to have to amend existing law that treats tax returns as privileged information not for release to the public. Amendments to law are subject to approval by both houses and presidential veto.
A Congressman or Senator could offer up the deepest darkest classified secrets of the nation from the floor of his/her house during debate, and the worst that would happen is expulsion from the House or Senate. So if they don't care and they do not mind letting that "Genie out of the bottle," all I ask is please let me get a 30 gallon bucket of cheese popcorn, a case of grape soda, the Lazy Boy in reclined position and the TV tuned in to C-Span to watch the "hammer and tong" of "The Mutually Assured Self Destruction show."
To directly answer everyone's "what ifs," (With apologies to Theodor Geisel)
Would you release them here or there?
Could you release them anywhere?
Would you release them from a house?
Could you release them with a mouse?
Would you release them by the box?
Could you release them near the docks?
YOU COULD! YOU COULD!
You could release them here or there, or anywhere, from a house, with a mouse, by the box, near the docks. You could. you could.
Would you release them here or there?
Could you release them anywhere?
Would you release them with tea?
Could you release them neath a tree?
Would you release them from the grass?
Could you release them in great mass?
YOU COULD! YOU COULD!
You could release them here or there, or anywhere, with some tea, neath a tree, from the grass, in great mass. You could. You could.
Would you release them here or there?
Could you release them anywhere?
Would you release them on your knee?
Could you release them at sea?
Would you release them next a goat?
Could you release them on a boat?
YOU COULD! YOU COULD!
You could release them here or there, or anywhere, on your knee, at sea, next a goat, on a boat. You could. You could.
Would you release them here or there?
Could you release them anywhere?
Would you release them in the park?
Could you release them in the dark?
Would you release them next a wench?
Could you release them on a bench?
YOU COULD! YOU COULD!
You could release them here or there, or anywhere, in the park, in the dark, next a wench on a bench. You could. You could.
You may release them, so you say.
So you say "Release them!" you may.
Release them! Release them any day
Release them! So you can feel okay.
Release them on a bench, next a wench, in the dark, in the park.
Release them on a boat, next a goat, at sea, on your knee.
Release them in great mass, from the grass, neath a tree, with tea.
Release them near the docks, by the box, with a mouse, from a house.
You may release them, so you say.
So you say "Release them!" You may.
Release them! Release them any day
Release them! So you can feel okay.
Release them! So you can feel okay.
"actually, that's incorrect. If the committee authorizes the release to the floor, it can be released publicly by any Congress critter, so long as he or she does it on the floor of the House. See Art. I, § 6, cl.1 ("and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.").
The entire paragraph:
"The Senators and Representatives shall receive a compensation for their services, to be ascertained by law, and paid out of the treasury of the United States. They shall in all cases, except treason, felony and breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any speech or debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other place."
As you can see there is no "If the committee authorizes the release to the floor..." Nothing in the Constitution grants "the committee" authority to release privileged information on the floor for political purpose. The Constitution allows an individual member of the house to do so. Thus removing any cloak of respectability and exposing the partisanship.
The releasing member's party, if in the majority, must then decide to acquiesce and sanction the member, or to suffer the wrath of voters who recognize a cheap political ploy when they see it. It is a risk versus reward analysis. As with Justice Kavanaugh, the Democrats figure their allies from the media can afford them cover and concealment. The problem is the precedent. Every Democrat, and shortly thereafter, every Republican wil l suffer the most outrageous slander from the floor. Unfortunately, the Democrats are so lustful for power that they are completely blind to the law of unintended consequences. The Russians and the Chinese are laughing their asses off.
This is what we get when emotion rather than intellect justifies anything.
Just as with the Russian investigation, what is he hiding?
Where is the bright shiny line? Should all Federally elected officials be required to publicly release their Tax returns? State and local candidates? Political appointees? SES pay grade government employees. GS grade government employees? Military officers? Enlisted service members? Retiree? Government contractors? Immediate and extended family of all of the above? Any American citizen? (All those are rhetorical and admittedly absurd questions.)
Why does Federal law exclude Tax returns from FOIA requests legally making it "protected information?" Why are you more deserving of privacy than President Trump? Those are NOT a rhetorical questions. You and every other voter are free to draw what conclusions you would from a candidates refusal, give those conclusions the weight you think appropriately and vote accordingly. It appears to me that those who voted for candidate Trump, given the alternative, didn't care, or care enough to vote for their other choices.
And you never answered the "not rhetorical" questions:
_Why does Federal law exclude Tax returns from FOIA requests legally making it "protected information?"
_Why are you more deserving of privacy than President Trump?
I believe the line should be when a person is running for a public office in which that person can make decisions that could possibly affect his own personal income.
I believe when a person steps into the public, political field, that person is claiming he/she is an honest, reliable person that wants what is best for the nation, not for financial gain for themselves.
Tax returns can show something of that person's ethics and goals. It can also show who that person has dealings with.
Hypothetical: If Donald Trump borrowed large sums of money from a foreign source, I think it is important that the American public are made aware of it. Tax returns may show information such as that.