{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s2979-114/featured_presidential-tax-transparency-act-1471384075.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/s2979-114/featured_large_presidential-tax-transparency-act-1471384075.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s2979-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2016-05-25","title_override":"Do Presidential Candidates Need to be Required to Release Their Tax Returns?","summary_override":"

This bill would require major party candidates for president to release their federal income tax returns for the three most recent tax years to the public. If a candidate doesn’t willingly disclose the required tax returns, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) would be able to retrieve the tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and publish them after redacting certain information.

Under current law, there is no requirement for presidential candidates to release their tax returns to the public, but most candidates in recent decades have voluntarily released their returns. Each president since Gerald Ford (who released summary data) has made their returns available to the public according to the Tax History Project.

If enacted, this legislation’s requirement would only apply to candidates from “major parties” — which are defined as political parties that had their presidential candidate receive at least 25 percent of the popular vote in the previous election.

","official_title":"A bill to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require candidates of major parties for the office of President to disclose recent tax return information.","short_title":"Presidential Tax Transparency Act","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Presidential Tax Transparency Act\n\nThis bill amends the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to require any candidate of a major party for the office of President to file with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) a copy of the candidate's income tax returns for the three most recent taxable years for which such a return has been filed with the Internal Revenue Service as of the date of the nomination.\n\nIn any case in which such a candidate has not filed with the FEC such income tax returns within 30 days after the nomination date, the FEC shall request the Department of the Treasury to furnish the returns.\n\nA tax return furnished to the FEC by a candidate or by Treasury shall be treated in the same manner as a report filed by the candidate and, except for the appropriate redaction of certain information, shall be made publicly available at the same time and in the same manner as other reports and statements.\n\nThe bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to authorize the FEC to disclose t...","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"Presidential candidates from major parties; their families and businesses; the FEC; and the IRS.","argument_for":"Presidential candidates deserve to be heavily scrutinized and given that many voluntarily release their tax returns, it makes sense that federal should require them to make their returns public.","argument_against":"If a presidential candidate wants to release their tax returns voluntarily they can, but the federal government shouldn’t make it a requirement and threaten to release the information without consent.","bill_type":"s","published":true,"type":"FederalBill","id":"s2979-114","bill_id":"s2979-114","formal_id":"S. 2979","chamber":"senate","congress":114,"last_action_at":"2016-05-25T00:00:00.000Z","active":false,"enacted":false,"enacted_at":null,"vetoed":false,"last_vote_at":null,"debated_on":null,"congress_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/2979","plain_text_url":"https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-114s2979is/html/BILLS-114s2979is.htm","shareable_image_url":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/s2979-114.png","congress_full_text_url":"https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th/senate-bill/2979/text","is_current_congress":false,"last_version_on":"2016-05-25","related_bill_ids":["hr5386-114","s3348-114"],"progress":"Introduced","house_passage_result":false,"senate_passage_result":false,"position_count":471,"committees":[{"name":"Committee on Rules and Administration","chamber":"senate","committee_id":"SSRA","subcommittee":false}],"links":{"rollCalls":"/api/roll_calls?bill_id=s2979-114","details":"/api/bills/s2979-114/details","sharingMessage":"/api/sharing_messages/s2979-114","positionsFor":"/api/bills/s2979-114/positions/for","positionsAgainst":"/api/bills/s2979-114/positions/against"},"upcoming":false,"cosponsors_count":9,"slug":"s2979-114-presidential-tax-transparency-act","latest_chamber_votes_id":null,"official_url":null,"target_video":true,"following":false,"vote_count":3568,"yea_vote_count":2668,"nay_vote_count":890,"passed_house":false,"passed_senate":false,"vote_id":null,"my_position_id":null,"topic_ids":["government","taxes"],"issue_ids":["government","elections","federal-agencies","transparency","taxes"],"sponsor_id":526}],"votes":[],"issues":[{"id":"government","name":"Government","slug":"government","description":"Federal legislation related to the operations of the US Federal Government. 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God gave us a pattern to follow for the Church and for how we should live. He DIDN'T say that following it is OPTIONAL! Nor did He say we could make changes to His pattern! I believe that there will be an eternal home of the soul - Heaven or Hell - and that Christ will judge us on the last day. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God!\n\nI am NOT\n• a Catholic\n• a Protestant\n• a Baptist\n• a Methodist\n• a Mormon\n• an Episcopalian\n• a Pentacostal\nor member of any other denomination.\n\n• I AM A CHRISTIAN, PERIOD!\n• I AM A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PERIOD! \n• I ACKNOWLEDGE NO HEAD OF THE CHURCH EXCEPT CHRIST JESUS, THE SON OF GOD, PERIOD! \n• I FOLLOW NO MANMADE CREED, BUT THE BIBLE ONLY, WHICH IS THE INSPIRED WORD OF GOD, PERIOD!\n\nI'm a 4th. generation Texan & the mother of 2 sons. I'm retired. I love the mountains and I like Oberhasli dairy goats, organic gardening, science fiction, astronomy, camping, and hunting. I'm very fond of my OESheepdog and my Norwegian Forest cat, too.\n\n• I'm a Constitutional Conservative and a patriot. \n•. I support the Tea Party. \n• I'm for limited government and free market capitalism. \n• I'm also for school choice and school prayer. \n• I'm against abortion and same-sex \"marriage\". \n• I'm TOTALLY AGAINST the implementation of Shariah law at any level in the United States! \n• I'm for SECURE BORDERS and reduced immigration, especially of Muslims! \n• I believe ALL illegal aliens should be deported. Those who enter our country illegally should not be given special privileges at the taxpayers' expense! \n• I believe that Congress should balance the budget and Uncle Sam should live within his means - without raising taxes! \n• I also believe in \"peace through strength\" - keep our military strong and keep out the transgenders! Freedom of religion applies to the military as well as civilians! I'm AGAINST allowing foreigners to join our military! That includes Obama's Dreamers! \n• I want to see a ban on GMOs! \n• I want to see the federal government OUT OF education! \n• Audit the Fed! \n• Abolish the IRS! \n• Just say \"NO\" to political correctness and race-baiting!\n\nThis is not a complete description of what I stand for. If you have specific questions about me, it can't hurt to ask! I might even answer! :-D #MakeDCListen\n\nTHIS IS MY COUNTRY!\n\nI AM TIRED OF AND FED UP WITH MUSLIM JIHADISTS AND ILLEGAL ALIENS IN MY COUNTRY, WHO ARE BRINGING DRUGS, DISEASE, AND CRIME, WHILE BEING CODDLED BY MY GOVERNMENT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN CITIZENS! IT'S NOT RIGHT FOR US TO HAVE TO SUFFER THIS INVASION BY PEOPLE WHO DON'T RESPECT OUR LAWS, OUR PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE, OUR FLAG, OUR LANGUAGE (That's ENGLISH!), OR OUR CULTURE! AND I'M TIRED OF AND FED UP WITH HAVING TO \"PRESS 1 FOR ENGLISH\"! WE NEED A MORATORIUM ON MUSLIM IMMIGRATION AND WE NEED TO KICK OUT ALL OF THE ILLEGAL ALIENS WHO BY DEFINITION ARE CRIMINALS! WE NEED TO MAKE OUR GOVERNMENT UNDERSTAND THAT WE DON'T WANT AMERICA TURNED INTO A THIRD WORLD CESSPOOL!\n\nI AM NOT ANTI-IMMIGRANT. I AM FOR THE RULE OF LAW. I DON'T CARE WHAT COLOR YOUR SKIN IS OR WHAT YOUR NATIVE LANGUAGE IS. BUT IF YOU COME TO MY COUNTRY TO LIVE, I EXPECT YOU TO LEARN AND SPEAK ENGLISH AND TO OBEY OUR LAWS! NONE OF THAT SHARIAH STUFF! WE HAVE FREEDOM OF RELIGION HERE IN AMERICA, AND ISLAM IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER TO THAT FREEDOM! SPARE ME YOUR TAQIYYA AND HUDNA! YOU WANT TO BELIEVE MUHAMMAD IS A PROPHET OF GOD? THAT IS YOUR RIGHT, BUT IT IS OUR RIGHT TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR BELIEFS. IT IS NOT YOUR RIGHT TO KILL US FOR DISAGREEING! IF YOU DON'T LIKE OUR LAWS, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO TRY TO CHANGE THEM THROUGH LEGAL AND PEACEFUL MEANS, BUT MANY OF US WILL PEACEFULLY AND RESPECTFULLY (insofar as it is possible) DO OUR UTMOST TO PREVENT YOU FROM SUCCEEDING, IF YOUR GOAL IS CULTURAL AND POLITICAL JIHAD.\n\nTHIS IS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND WE HAVE A HERITAGE OF HONOR, PRIDE AND COURAGE. OUR NATION, MOREOVER, WAS FOUNDED ON CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLES! OUR REVERENCE FOR GOD AND HIS CHRIST AND THE HOLY BIBLE IS WHAT ENABLED AMERICA TO BECOME GREATLY BLESSED BY GOD. WE HAVE OUR PROBLEMS; WE ARE NOT PERFECT, BUT WE WILL FIGHT THE POWERS OF DARKNESS AND EVIL, SO HELP US, GOD!\n\nTHIS IS AMERICA! LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!","twitter_id":null,"facebook_id":"lafigarus","youtube_id":"LauraroseofTexas","google_plus_id":null,"website":null,"slug":"loraki","issue_count":120,"is_following":null,"influence_score":47120,"influence_level":40,"follower_count":535,"following_count":3688,"position_count":920,"id":"8mrgkD9d","partner_id":null}],"bill_position":{"flagged":false,"id":"232fb744-095e-48bf-9d19-d793f154fe0f","argument_for":null,"argument_against":"It says a lot about a candidate if they voluntarily release their tax information. If the release of tax information becomes mandatory, it takes away that learning opportunity from the people. 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Do Presidential Candidates Need to be Required to Release Their Tax Returns?