Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed a piece of legislation that would have forced presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns before being placed on California’s voting ballot.
Brown nixed a bill Sunday night that would force future presidential candidates to disclose several years’ worth of tax returns. The Democrat criticized President Donald Trump’s refusal to fork over his returns during the election season.
“I worry about the political perils of individual states seeking to regulate presidential elections in this manner,” Brown wrote in his veto message on Sunday, noting also that the bill carries some “merits” and is politically attractive.
Tax returns are confidential, but most presidential candidates have voluntarily released them during their respective campaigns. Trump was one of a handful of candidates not to release his tax documents, which became an issue during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump released a portion of his 2005 documents in March showing he had paid $38 million in taxes on income over $150 million. The White House said at the time that the president paid “tens of millions of dollars in other taxes such as sales and excise taxes and employment taxes.”
The bill would have required any candidate to disclose five years of income tax returns if he or she wished to be included on California’s primary election ballot. Brown said the benefits of such a proposal did not outweigh the negatives.
Requiring candidates to submit documents could create a “slippery slope” precedent, Brown added.
“Today we require tax returns, but what would be next? Five years of health records? A certified birth-certificate? High school report cards? And will these requirements vary depending on which political party is in power?” he noted.
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