For the past forty years, every major party nominee for president has voluntarily disclosed his or her tax returns – until the 2016 election. There is no law requiring candidates to disclose their tax returns, but every single nominee other than Donald Trump has followed this customary norm so that voters can have a clear understanding of the financial interests and possible entanglements of the men and women seeking our nation’s highest office.
The need to address presidential tax transparency has never been more clear. We can no longer count on tradition to ensure even basic transparency such as this. It is clear that there is overwhelming support for presidential tax transparency. In January of 2017, an ABC/ Washington Post poll found that 74 percent of Americans believe that presidential candidates should release their tax returns.
Bills have been introduced into both the Vermont House and Senate that would require presidential candidates to release their previous five years of tax returns in order to appear on the Vermont ballot. VPIRG supports these bills because Vermonters deserve basic transparency from our elected officials – especially those who seek our nation’s highest office.
Sign our petition telling Vermont lawmakers to require presidential candidates to disclose their tax returns before appearing on the Vermont ballot.
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