Mr. Hoylman has stressed that the bill would simply expand on current sharing of state tax information with federal officials, saying the “state tax department routinely supplies tax filing information to the I.R.S.” Earlier this week, the Treasury Department announced it would not release the tax returns despite a formal request from House Democrats, kicking off a legal battle that will likely go to the Supreme Court. Indeed, the new details about the president’s steep financial losses disclosed in The Times on Tuesday provided the fullest picture yet of his taxes, and could fuel House Democrats in their fight to get his federal tax returns. They also provided ample material to mock Mr. Trump’s oft-repeated claims of financial prowess. “Trump was perhaps the worst businessman in the world,” said Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat of New Jersey and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “His entire campaign was a lie. He didn’t pay taxes for years and lost over $1 billion — how is that possible? How did he keep getting more money and where on earth was it all going? We need to know now.” Mr. Pascrell insisted that the I.R.S. comply with his committee’s request. “We now have another part of the truth,” he said. “We need a lot more.”<doc-sep>(CNN) — Democratic efforts in New York state to enable the release of President Donald Trump’s state tax returns are expected to pass the state Senate Wednesday, according to Senate leadership. Mike Murphy, spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, told CNN on Tuesday that he predicts the bill will pass. “This President and his administration have repeatedly shown a true hostility to the rule of law and Presidential customs,” Stewart-Cousins said in a statement that was provided by Murphy. “No person is above the law and New Yorkers, as well as all Americans, deserve transparency from their elected officials at every level of government.” If made law, the bill will allow the state’s tax commissioner to hand over any New York tax returns at the request of the US House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, the US Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation. The Democratic leader of the US House Ways and Mean Committee has submitted a request to the IRS for Trump’s federal tax returns. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin rejected that request on Monday afternoon. A companion bill winding its way through the New York State Assembly is currently before that chamber’s Ways and Means Committee. The proposed legislation must pass both chambers before ending up on Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s desk. Cuomo’s office told CNN last week that he supports the bill. The state Senate’s floor session is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday.<doc-sep>The New York State Senate passed a bill Wednesday that would make it easier for Congress to obtain President Donald Trump's state tax returns, a measure that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will sign if it reaches his desk. The bill, called the TRUST Act, passed by a 39-to-21 vote. It would amend state law to permit the commissioner of the state Department of Taxation and Finance to release any state tax return requested by the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation for any "specific and legitimate legislative purpose." Existing laws generally prohibit such a release. Those congressional committees could file a request with the state only after efforts to gain access to federal tax filings through the U.S. Treasury Department failed. The bill would apply only to Trump's state returns and not the federal ones currently at the center of a battle between the House and the Treasury Department. But those state returns would provide a trove of information, because New York serves as the headquarters of the president's business, and is his home state. They are likely to contain much of the same information congressional lawmakers are seeking from his federal returns. Democratic state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who sponsored the legislation, told NBC News he was "very hopeful" it would be signed into law and said he discussed his bill personally with Cuomo. Though he declined to describe those discussions, he said he believes Cuomo "understands the importance" of the legislation. "Given the current events, the impetus is even stronger to get Trump's taxes to the Ways and Means Committee," said Hoylman, who represents a Manhattan district. "This is a constitutional showdown that we see evolving before our eyes." In a statement released with the bill's passage, Hoylman said Trump "has broken 40 years of political tradition by not releasing his tax returns" and that his administration is now "precipitating a constitutional crisis by shielding the president from congressional oversight over those returns." "Our system of checks and balances is failing," he continued. "New York has a special role and responsibility to step into the breach." House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said in a statement that the bill "is a workaround to a White House that continues to obstruct and stonewall the legitimate oversight work of Congress." "The state return should generally match the federal return, and obtaining it from New York State will enable us in Congress to perform our oversight function and maintain the rule of law," he added. Speaking from the Senate floor on Wednesday, Republican state Sen. Frederick Akshar said "everyday taxpayers are not amused" by the legislative efforts. "If you want to push back on the president, if you want to raise hell with the president, go ahead," he said. "Run for a House seat. Run for the United States Senate." Both the state Senate and state Assembly, where the bill was advanced, too, are under Democratic control, as is the governor's mansion. Last month, in an interview with the public radio station WAMC, Cuomo said he supported the bill so long as it applies to any official elected in the state. But Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican Party, told NBC News last month that the bill was clearly aimed at the president himself "with the purpose of re-litigating the 2016 campaign in which the people of the United States knew that he had not released his tax returns and they still elected him president of the United States." The advancement of the bill comes as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday rejected House Democrats’ request for Trump's federal returns, again missing a congressional deadline to turn over the documents. House Democrats are now faced with pursuing a legal battle with the Treasury Department to obtain the tax information. Federal law gives three Congressional tax committees the unqualified right to obtain and review the otherwise confidential federal tax information of any taxpayer from the Treasury Department. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News. Additionally, the state Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would allow state prosecutors to pursue charges against individuals pardoned by the president. New York Attorney General Letitia James and Cuomo both endorsed that legislative push. The bill would create an exception to New York law, which prohibits the state from prosecuting a person who has already been tried for the same crime by the federal government. The exception would make it easier for prosecutors to pursue a case against someone who received a presidential pardon. "The legislation upholds the standards of fairness & justice at the core of the double jeopardy law, and prevents it from being used as a tool to deny justice altogether," James tweeted. She added, "The bill embodies a central component to the foundation of our democracy: The President — unlike a monarch or authoritarian dictator — is not above the law and our laws should apply to all people of this nation equally, including and especially our leaders." The state Assembly has not yet scheduled dates for votes on either that bill or the tax legislation.<doc-sep>ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s Senate easily approved a bill Wednesday that would allow three congressional committees to get access to President Donald Trump’s state tax returns, giving Democrats a potential end-run around the administration’s refusal to disclose the president’s federal returns. The bill, which now goes to the state Assembly, doesn’t target Trump by name but would authorize state tax officials to release returns filed by several state and federal officeholders if requested by the leaders of the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance Committee or the Joint Committee on Taxation. Both chambers of the state Legislature are controlled by Democrats. “The power of the Congress to see your federal taxes already exists,” he said. “We’re not doing anything new here.” The law would apply to returns filed by the U.S. president and vice president, U.S. senators, the state’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general or comptroller. It would include filings related to personal income taxes, real estate taxes and corporate income taxes and cover up to five years of returns before the person took office. Sen. Brad Hoylman, a Manhattan Democrat who is one of the main sponsors, said Republicans were “misinformed” about the issue, pointing out that current federal law already allows congressional committees to request a person’s tax returns from the IRS. “The power of the Congress to see your federal taxes already exists,” he said. “We’re not doing anything new here.” Trump’s home state is New York, where many of his business enterprises are based. Financial information in state returns is likely to mirror much of what is in his federal returns. Republicans said Democrats should be focused on lowering the state’s high taxes and improving the lives of New Yorkers, not going after the president’s tax returns, a move GOP senators deemed intrusive and a violation of privacy rights. “I find that extremely troubling. This is bad public policy,” said John Flanagan, a Long Island Republican who leads the Senate’s GOP minority. The vote fell along party lines, with 39 Democrats in the 63-seat Senate voting for the measure. White House officials didn’t respond to a request for comment. Federal law allows Congress to demand the president’s tax returns under certain circumstances, but on Monday Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declined to disclose Trump’s federal returns to the Democratic-controlled House, saying the request “lacks a legitimate legislative purpose.” That refusal set the stage for a possible legal battle. Any law passed in New York might also be destined for a court challenge. The New York Times reported Tuesday that Trump’s businesses lost more than $1 billion from 1985 to 1994, based on tax information the newspaper acquired. New York’s proposed law wouldn’t authorize the disclosure of Trump’s returns in any of the years described in the Times report. Previous efforts to bring the legislation to a floor vote in the Senate were blocked by Republicans, who lost control of the chamber in the November elections. The measure, which would amend state laws prohibiting private tax information from being released, isn’t scheduled for a vote yet in the Assembly, where more than 90 Democrats in the 150-seat chamber support the legislation. The New York bill wouldn’t make Trump’s returns public, but Congress could potentially decide to do so. “Americans have the right to know if the president is putting his business empire, or the interests of the public, first,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a group that supports the legislation. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, has said he supports legislation allowing the president’s tax returns to be made public, but only if it also applies to all state lawmakers and statewide elected officials in New York. Cuomo, now in his third term, recently released his federal and state tax returns, something he has done every year since becoming governor in 2011. Ahead of the vote on the tax returns bill, the Senate approved legislation designed to ensure that a presidential pardon doesn’t cover similar criminal charges filed at the state level. The bill was crafted to eliminate an unintended loophole in the state’s double jeopardy law that prosecutors say could undermine New York’s ability to prosecute anyone pardoned by Trump. The Assembly hasn’t scheduled a vote on that bill.<doc-sep>
New York Democrats are facing furious condemnation from Republicans over legislation that would create a backdoor method for lawmakers on Capitol Hill to get their hands on President Trump's tax returns. After the IRS denied a recent congressional request for Trump's federal tax returns, New York is poised to make his state returns available with a bill that passed in the state Senate on Wednesday. TRUMP LEGAL TEAM ASKS FEDERAL COURT TO BLOCK HOUSE OVERSIGHT SUBPOENAS FOR FINANCIAL DOCS, AUDITS New York Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox slammed the move in a statement to Fox News. "The Democratic legislature and Governor Cuomo are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome and playing politics at the expense of doing the people’s business," he said. The bill, known as the TRUST Act, would lift a state restriction on revealing an individual's tax returns. It says the state commissioner of taxation and finance shall release those returns if requested by the House Ways and Means Committee, Finance Committee, or Joint Committee on Taxation. The bill says that the chair of the requesting committee must certify that the request is for a legitimate legislative purpose. When Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin denied a request for Trump’s federal tax returns, he said the request failed to meet that standard. On the floor of the state Senate, Republican Sen. Fred Akshar criticized the measure, saying that state lawmakers in Albany shouldn't be getting involved in Washington squabbles. “If you want to push back on the president … go ahead, run for a House seat, for the United States Senate,” he said. Akshar was one of 22 senators who voted against the bill, compared with 39 in favor. GOP Sen. Robert Antonacci, who also voted against the bill, said in a statement to Fox News that the bill "is just another political ploy by the New York City liberal machine." The notion of passing such a bill with a specific person in mind also has raised constitutional concerns. Article 1 Section 10 of the Constitution says, "No state shall … pass any bill of attainder." A bill of attainder is one that singles out one person or group for punishment without a trial. Cox described the TRUST Act as such a bill. "No matter how they dress it up for legal purposes, this unconstitutional bill of attainder is aimed at one individual for the political purpose of re-litigating the 2016 election," he said. "The bill would set a dangerous precedent for infringing on the privacy rights of all citizens." The bill is set to go next before the state Assembly, where 106 of the 150 seats are held by Democrats. Then, it would go to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo. An adviser for Cuomo told The New York Times in April that the governor would support the bill “as long as it applies to everybody.” The text of the bill technically applies to everyone. But its sponsor, Democratic Sen. Brad Hoylman, has made clear they have Trump in mind. "Donald Trump has broken forty years of political tradition by not releasing his tax returns," Hoylman said in a statement. "Now, his administration is precipitating a constitutional showdown by shielding the President from Congressional oversight over those returns. Our system of checks and balances is failing. New York has a special role and responsibility to step into the breach." TRUMP BLASTS 'HIT JOB' NEW YORK TIMES REPORT ON LOSSES IN TAX RETURNS U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., also commented on the bill in the context of the president's tax returns, calling it "a workaround to a White House that continues to obstruct and stonewall the legitimate oversight work of Congress."