Andrew Cuomo Supports Release Of Trump’s State Tax Returns, Believes It Will Happen
As The Inquisitr reported, the New York Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would allow Congress to obtain President Donald Trump’s state tax returns. And while the bill still has to make its way to Governor Andrew Cuomo for his signature, Spectrum News reports that he said he is willing to support the bill at an event on the Hudson River near the old Tappan Zee Bridge.
“I am supportive of that bill. I believe it’s going to pass.”
As of now, Democrats in the state Assembly are planning to discuss the bill on Monday in a closed-door meeting.
Although Long Island Republican John Flanagan believes that the bill is an invasion of privacy designed for partisan purposes, Manhattan Democratic Senator Brad Hoylman says that the bill is nothing of the sort, pointing to the fact that Congress already has the power to see federal taxes.
Democratic Assemblywoman Pat Fahy, who rallied in support of the bill on Friday with progressive groups, dismissed accusations that the bill is partisan, claiming that it was written narrowly to ensure this isn’t the case.
“I think it makes a lot of sense. I think we are at such an unprecedented and disturbing time since we are at such an impasse with co-equal branches of government at the federal level.”
Opinion: Encouraged by Governor Cuomo, the Albany Democrats are poised to pass legislation that would let the state tax commissioner release Trump’s tax return to Congressional committees. https://t.co/rZHQCulatx
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 9, 2019
While sitting presidents aren’t legally required to release their tax returns, it’s a decades-old tradition, and Trump’s refusal to do so has stirred curiosity as to what’s inside his.
As The Inquisitr reported, The New York Times released a bombshell report that — based on “printouts from his official IRS tax transcripts, with figures from his federal 1040, for 85 to 94” — suggests that Trump lost $1.2 billion from 1985 to 1994, making him the worst American businessman of the ’80s.
Some say the data suggests that Trump’s appearance of success stems not from his actual accomplishments but the image created by the long-running NBC TV reality show The Apprentice.
“Most of us knew he was a fake. He had just gone through I don’t know how many bankruptcies,” said Jonathan Braun, a video editor on the show for six of its 14 seasons.
“It was like making the court jester the king.”
But the controversial report also raises the possibility of legal trouble for both the Times and the leaker. As The Inquisitr reported, federal law protects both tax returns and information related to them from being released by both private individuals and government employees.
