It might be time for California to reverse its law designed to get President Trump’s taxes.
Because the law might make it harder to get Trump’s taxes.
California’s new law, which requires disclosure of tax returns to earn a place on the primary ballot, was a righteous effort to get tax returns from a thoroughly corrupt president. But, as I’ve argued here, pursuing it was bad strategy, since the law is likely unconstitutional in California and nationally. And because it denied voters a choice.
But now the law looks like a liability to the cause of getting Trump’s returns. Congress has been winning on the courts in its own effort to enforce a federal law that entitles it to the president’s returns. A prosecutor in New York City is also winning legal victories in his bid for the returns.
So, at this point, California’s case for its law seems like the weak link in this national legal assault. If the Golden State loses, Trump may be able to argue that the courts have validated his keeping his returns secret. And that could muddy the public relations, if not the legal waters, around what should be a clear issue.
That’s why it makes sense to move expeditiously to reverse this law, so that the court case will go away. Gov. Newsom and the legislature shouldn’t play a losing hand when others are winning elsewhere.