A01390 Summary:
| BILL NO | A01390 |
| SAME AS | SAME AS S02271 |
| SPONSOR | Buchwald (MS) |
| COSPNSR | Fahy, Paulin, Crespo, Perry, Barrett, Simon, Abinanti, Carroll, Pichardo, Gottfried, Quart, Rodriguez, Ortiz, Rosenthal L, D'Urso, Jean-Pierre, Jaffee, Mosley, De La Rosa, Woerner, Colton, Barnwell, Niou, Cusick, O'Donnell, Lifton, Arroyo, Steck, Joyner, Ryan, Seawright, Raia, Glick, Dinowitz, Wallace, Lentol, Bichotte, Titus, Galef, Pheffer Amato, Vanel, Simotas, Rivera, Williams, Barron, Kim, Wright, Walker, Richardson, Stirpe, Davila, Cahill, Thiele, Ramos, Englebright, Aubry, Hyndman, Cymbrowitz, DenDekker, Abbate, Bronson, Gantt, Lupardo, Fall, Cruz, Taylor, Fernandez, Frontus, Jacobson, Burke, Romeo, Reyes, Darling, Sayegh, Griffin, Zebrowski, Hunter, Rosenthal D, McMahon, Cook, Stern, Blake, Hevesi, Magnarelli, Rozic, Miller MG, Weprin, Pretlow, Gunther |
| MLTSPNSR | Epstein, Nolan |
| Amd §697, Tax L | |
| Requires the disclosure of tax returns by statewide elected public officials including the president of the United States. | |
A01390 Memo:
Go to topNEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the tax law, in relation to requiring the disclosure of tax returns by statewide elected public officials including the president of the United States SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section one of the bill adds a new subsection (p) to section 697 of the Tax Law to require the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance to post on the Department's website: -An annual statement disclosing whether the President of the United States, Vice President, a United States Senator representing New York or a statewide elected official has filed New York State income tax returns for any of the immediately preceding five taxable years. Included in such statement shall be up to 13 pieces of New York specific tax infor- mation to provide a basic sense of the elected official's tax obli- gations; -Copies of such elected official's New York State income tax returns for the immediately preceding five taxable years, with selected information redacted as outlined below; -Copies of such elected official's New York State income tax returns for current years on an annual basis after the effective date of this law, with selected information redacted as outlined below. The Commissioner shall redact the following information from tax returns prior to posting: social security numbers of the taxpayer, spouse and any dependents claimed; account numbers; addresses; and any additional information the Commissioner determines would violate federal law. If any information is redacted based on a determination that disclosure of such information would violate federal law, the Commissioner shall, at the time of posting such redacted return, post to the website a description of the type of information redacted and an explanation of the determination that the information would constitute a violation of federal law. This legislation includes a standard severability clause, although the authors believe the bill to be entirely a valid exercise of New York State Law. Section two of the bill sets the effective date. JUSTIFICATION: High level elected officials, particularly those who run government departments or are next in line to be a chief executive, hold an espe- cially important place within the public trust. For a representative democracy to run well, the public must have confidence that our elected officials work on the people's behalf. This bill applies to the Gover- nor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, our two U.S. Senators, the President and Vice-President (if they file NYS income tax returns) and to all future statewide elected officials so as to increase transparency within government. Historically, the release of tax returns by elected officials in high public office has been the norm. Tax returns provide information as to an elected official's compliance with law, charitable nature and economic connections. They tend to disclose conflicts and potential conflicts of interests. They also show whether such official, who may propose significant shifts on tax policy would personally benefit from such proposals. This legislation will make tax information and returns of high ranking statewide elected officials in New York State available to the public for the duration of that official's time in office. It will also provide for the availability of an official's tax information and returns for the preceding five years before the official took office. Among other things, this disclosure provides a timeline of financial transparency and shows the level of consistency in tax payments. LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2017-2018: A.7462A (Buchwald) - Referred to Ways And Means / S.5572B (Hoylman) - Referred to Investigations and Government Operations FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None. IMPACT ON REGULATION OF BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS: None. EFFECTS ON FINES, TERMS OF IMPRISONMENTS OR OTHER PENAL SANCTIONS: None. EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.