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![handle is hein.presidents/pretscx0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
BRENNAN CENTER
FOR JUSTICE
at New York University School of Law
Presidential Transparency: Beyond Tax Returns
Danie/l. Weiner and Lawrence Norden*
What would the president's tax returns show about his financial ties to foreign powers or other ethical issues? Is there a better
way than disclosure of tax returns to get at such information? The paper below explores these questions.
Critics of President Donald J. Trump frequently imply that disclosure of his tax returns might reveal not only
how much he pays in taxes and gives to charity, but other bombshells damaging enough to bring down his
presidency.' In April, thousands of people in over 150 cities joined nationwide protests demanding that he
release his returns.2 The president's defenders, on the other hand, argue that the returns are useless or worse.
His son Donald, Jr. has said they would be a distraction, providing nothing more than fodder for
opponents to harass him.3 The president himself has said [y]ou will learn more about Donald Trump by
going down to the Federal Elections [sic] Commission to view his completed financial disclosure form than
from his tax returns.4
Whom should we believe? The urgency of this question grows as it becomes clearer that much of the
president's conduct in office could impact his businesses, from his tax reform proposal to foreign relations
not only with Russia (the focus of a wide-ranging inquiry in connection to its interference in the 2016
election), but other countries like China and the Philippines.5 This presents the potential for numerous
conflicts of interest, with no effective legal restraint since the president is exempt from federal conflict of
interest rules (although every president for the last 50 years has voluntarily adhered to them).6 A network of
holdings as vast and opaque as the one Mr. Trump controls also presents opportunities for outright bribery
and influence peddling on a vast scale, all under the guise of ordinary commercial transactions (that just
happen to be exceptionally favorable to the president and his companies) - a dynamic we have seen play out
in other countries where unscrupulous corporate magnates reached the height of political power.7
There is no way to know for sure how much light the president's personal tax returns would shed on such
risks without actually seeing them. However, the likelihood is that they contain more relevant information
than the president and his defenders will admit - but significantly less than his critics might hope. Tax
returns are filed for the purpose of paying taxes, not to provide financial disclosure. Even for a filer with](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.presidents/pretscx0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)