The New York state Senate is set to take up a bill on Wednesday that would allow state officials to release President Donald Trump’s state tax returns to Congress, and the lawmaker behind the legislation is confident it has the votes to pass.
State Sen. Brad Hoylman’s bill would allow the New York tax commissioner to release any state tax return requested by one of three congressional committees for any “specific and legitimate legislative purpose.”
In other words, Congress could finally get Trump’s tax returns.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin denied a request from House Democrats this week to share six years worth of Trump’s federal personal and business tax returns. His state returns should contain similar financial information. Trump is the first president since Richard Nixon not to release his personal tax returns.
A spokesperson for Hoylman told HuffPost on Tuesday that the Manhattan Democrat thinks the bill has enough votes in the state Senate to pass on Wednesday.
New York is home to the president’s famous Trump Tower, where he used to live and run his business, the Trump Organization. The tower is also where his son Donald Trump Jr., son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort met with a Russian lawyer in June 2016. The meeting raised significant questions about whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia in an effort to sway voters in the U.S. presidential election.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s refusal to abide by a law that says Congress can have access to any private federal tax information it wants will likely end up in the courts.
The White House did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment on the New York bill.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), a frequent Trump critic, said in April that he would support the state Senate’s efforts to help Congress view Trump’s tax returns.
The state Assembly, which is the other house in the New York Legislature, has been more measured in its response to the bill. Assembly spokesman Mike Whyland told The New York Times that members “understand the issue” and plan to discuss the bill “in the near future.” That said, the legislation has a relatively strong chance of passing in the Assembly, which has a huge Democratic majority.