Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge all House Members to defeat the previous question so that this bipartisan, bicameral legislation, the Presidential Tax Transparency Act, can be made in order for immediate floor debate and a vote. Now, the legislation is really very simple. It requires Presidential nominees of major political parties to file 3 previous years of their Federal tax returns with the Federal Election Commission. Now, tax returns contain vital information. We all know that. But it is also vital for the public, for voters, to consider. They should be able to know whether a candidate has paid taxes, if they have paid any taxes, how much they have paid, whether they have made charitable contributions and to whom, and whether they took advantage of tax loopholes or offshore tax shelters. This election year, we experienced a bipartisan problem in this area. For the first time since 1976, Mr. Trump, who is now the President- elect, would not release any tax returns to the public whatsoever. And on the Democratic side, Senator Sanders only disclosed a summary of 1 year of his tax returns. I think that these are areas that demonstrate themselves to fall far short of what the American people deserve in terms of transparency. So this legislation ensures that the custom of disclosing--and it has been a custom since 1976--that they disclose multiple years of tax returns and that it be required by Federal law for future Presidential candidates to do so.…”