Case disclosed

As a candidate for President, Donald Trump broke a half century of precedent and blew through every phony excuse not to make public his federal tax returns. The refusal continues now that he’s in the White House — risking conflicts foreign and domestic.

Foreign because we don’t know what we don’t know about partnerships and interests in Russia, China and anywhere else.

Domestic because, as Trump prepares to overhaul the tax code, we don’t know which levies he pays, nor from which deductions and loopholes he benefits.

Despite Americans overwhelmingly wanting to see the returns, most are resigned to stewing in cynicism and never knowing the mysteries of the man’s 1040.

But there actually is a path forward. It runs through Albany, Trenton and Hartford.

In theory, Congress could have the IRS publish the President’s return. But with a GOP House and Senate, that’s a non-starter. Besides, the President has a veto pen.

The place to make a full-court press is in state houses where Trump has filed state returns. The idea was first floated by Daniel Hemel, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School.

In a persuasive paper, Hemel makes the case that New York can change its law to require release of the state tax forms of all its statewide officeholders, most of whom already put them out voluntarily: governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, controller, U.S. senators as well as President and vice president.

There’s a clear public interest here, to ensure that the people who have considerable policymaking power over the rest of us are truly working for the common good.

Albany has a bill, pushed by David Buchwald in the Democratic-run Assembly and by Brad Hoylman in the Senate. Because Republicans currently rule the roost in the latter, that puts the odds of passage somewhere between Areyoukiddingme and Nevergonnahappen.

New Jersey and Connecticut, both places where Trump files non-resident returns and both with Democratic legislatures, should press ahead. In Connecticut, a Democratic governor might even sign such a measure into law.

What doesn’t make sense is the plan, in Albany and 20 other capitals, to bar any candidate from the presidential ballot unless his or her tax returns are released.

The qualifications for President are in Article II of the Constitution, namely “a natural born citizen,” having “attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.”

It’s a dead letter for states to try meddling with that language.

There’s a better way. Do it.