Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden introduced a bill that would require nominees for the presidency to release their tax returns,
according to The Hill.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has not released his tax records but has said he will do so when an audit by the IRS is finished. The IRS said it is allowable for anyone to release their own tax returns, even when they are being audited, according to the Hill report.
Wyden, from Oregon, is the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee and endorsed Hillary Clinton for president — she has released more than 30 years of her tax returns.
"Tax returns give honest answers. They show if you game the system," Wyden said, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
His bill would require a presidential nominee to release the three most recent years of their tax returns to the Federal Election Commission within 15 days of being named the nominee at their party's convention.
If the candidate fails to do so, the proposed bill would call on the secretary of the Treasury to release the returns to the election commission.
Wyden noted in the Hill report that presidential candidates have been consistent in releasing their returns for almost 40 years. The senator said not releasing returns appears to raise questions about the returns' contents, and releasing them delivers "honest answers to key questions from the American public."
"Do you even pay taxes? Do you give to charity? Are you abusing tax loopholes? Are you keeping your money offshore? People have a right to know," Wyden said.
Wyden said he is hoping to get Republican support for the bill.
"I'm going to do everything I can to make this a bipartisan issue," he said in the Hill report.
The Huffington Post reported that Republican Speaker of the House Mitch McConnell said about releasing returns, "That's been the tradition."
McConnell did not call for Trump to release the returns. The Post reported that he said, "He'll have to make that decision himself."
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