President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign just got a bit more complicated after Rhode Island’s state Senate passed a bill this week that would keep candidates off the presidential ballot in their state if they don’t release five years’ worth of tax returns.
The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Gayle Goldin (D), noted that every presidential candidate since Richard Nixon released their tax returns voluntarily until President Trump ran for office.
As noted by Rhode Island’s Providence Journal, Trump has repeatedly claimed that he cannot release his tax returns because he is under audit, but the IRS said an audit does not prevent a candidate from releasing their personal tax information.
Goldin argued that “tax returns provide essential information about candidates’ conflicts of interest.”
Tax returns, she continued, are vital information a voter needs to know about a candidate at the ballot box.
The bill passed the Senate on a 34-3 vote. It now moves to the Rhode Island state House, according to the Journal.
