The tax tactic
Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution is quite clear — and decidedly spare — in laying out eligibility for president. The officeholder must be a naturalborn citizen, 35 years old and a resident in this country for at least 14 years. It says nothing about states having the authority to add requirements.
Yet Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation this week that will force candidates to release five years of tax returns to qualify for the primary ballot.
This is a horrible idea not only because of its constitutional dubiousness. That matter is almost certain to be sent to the courts, with your state tax dollars being spent on a legal fight with an uncertain outcome and a distinctly partisan motive: to shame President Trump.
Oh, Newsom and the Democratic sponsors of SB27 tried mightily to insist with a straight face that it wasn’t about Trump but for the pious purpose of transparency for voters. But no one is really fooled.
This was all about Trump.
One of the measures of a fair electoral reform is that it is not intended for partisan advantage. It is one of the reasons we so object to the Republican efforts elsewhere to suppress turnout through voter ID laws, wanton purging of the rolls, cutbacks in hours or days when the polls are open. This is all about political gamesmanship.
So is California’s move to compel Trump to either release his tax returns — something he has steadfastly refused to do — or lose out on the state’s 172 delegates to next year’s Republican National Convention in Charlotte, N.C.
Let the record show that we agree that presidential candidates should disclose their tax returns, as has become custom since Watergate, with the exceptions of Trump in 2016 and and Gerald Ford in 1976. Voters should demand it — and should be rightly skeptical of candidates who balk.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown, who refused to disclose his taxes during his 2010 and 2014 campaigns, vetoed a similar bill in 2017.
“What would be next?” Brown wrote in his veto message. “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?”
By the way, SB27 also applies to gubernatorial candidates, which is well within the purview of the California Legislature, a service to voters and in no conflict with the U.S. Constitution.