Presidential Tax Disclosure Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 950 To require the disclosure of the Federal income tax returns of the President. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 4, 2019 Mr. CICILLINE (for himself, Mr. GARAMENDI, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. ROY- BAL-ALLARD, and Mr. DEFAZIO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently de- termined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require the disclosure of the Federal income tax returns of the President. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as ‘‘Presidential Tax Disclo- 4 sure Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF FEDERAL INCOME TAX RETURNS 6 OF THE PRESIDENT. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any individual holding the office 8 of President shall submit to the Director of the Office of 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 950 IH Government Ethics a copy of each Federal income tax re- 1 turn filed by such individual with the Internal Revenue 2 Service for any taxable year ending during the period such 3 individual holds such office. Such copy shall be so sub- 4 mitted not later than the earlier of the date which is 90 5 days after such return is so filed or the end of the calendar 6 year in which such return is so filed. 7 (b) APPLICATION TO CERTAIN PRIOR YEAR RE- 8 TURNS.—Not later than 90 days after an individual first 9 assumes the office of President, such individual shall sub- 10 mit to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics 11 a copy of each Federal income tax return filed by such 12 individual with the Internal Revenue Service for the 3 13 most recent taxable years ending before the date on which 14 such individual first assumes such office. 15 (c) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE.—In the case of any Fed- 16 eral income tax return received by the Director of the Of- 17 fice of Government Ethics under subsection (a) or (b) of 18 this section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue 19 Code of 1986, the Director shall, not later than 7 business 20 days after receiving such return— 21 (1) make such return publicly available on the 22 internet; and 23 (2) submit such return to the Committees on 24 the Judiciary, Ways and Means, and Oversight and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 950 IH Reform of the House of Representatives and to the 1 Committees on the Judiciary and Finance of the 2 Senate. 3 (d) SPECIAL RULES.— 4 (1) DISCLOSURE OF ENTIRE RETURN.—Any 5 reference in this section to a Federal income tax re- 6 turn includes all schedules, supplements, amend- 7 ments, and attachments with respect to such return. 8 In the case of any such schedule, supplement, 9 amendment, or attachment which is not filed with 10 the Internal Revenue Service on the same date as 11 the return, such schedule, supplement, amendment, 12 or attachment shall be treated as a separate return 13 for purposes of determining the deadline for submis- 14 sion and disclosure under this section. 15 (2) PERMITTED REDACTIONS.—No information 16 may be redacted from any return submitted or dis- 17 closed under this section, except the following infor- 18 mation: 19 (A) Any Social Security number of any in- 20 dividual. 21 (B) Any taxpayer identification number of 22 any person. 23 (C) Any account identification number. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 950 IH (D) Any name of any dependent of the 1 taxpayer. 2 (3) APPLICATION TO SPOUSES.— 3 (A) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of any 4 return which is filed jointly with the spouse of 5 any individual, the entire return shall be treated 6 as the return of such individual for purposes of 7 this section. 8 (B) SEPARATE RETURNS.—If the spouse of 9 any individual to whom subsection (a) applies 10 files a Federal income tax return which is sepa- 11 rate from such individual, this section and sec- 12 tion 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code 13 of 1986 shall apply to such return in the same 14 manner as such section would apply if such re- 15 turn were filed by such individual. 16 (e) ENFORCEMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 17 (1) The Attorney General may bring a civil ac- 18 tion in any appropriate United States district court 19 against any individual who knowingly falsifies or 20 who knowingly fails to submit or disclose any infor- 21 mation that such individual is required to submit or 22 disclose pursuant to this section or section 23 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 950 IH The court may assess against such individual a civil 1 penalty in an amount of not more than $50,000. 2 (2) It shall be unlawful for any person to know- 3 ingly— 4 (A) falsify any information that such per- 5 son is required to submit or disclose under this 6 section or section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal 7 Revenue Code of 1986; or 8 (B) fail to so submit or disclose such infor- 9 mation. 10 (3) Any person who— 11 (A) violates paragraph (2)(A) shall be 12 fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 13 not more than 6 months, or both, and 14 (B) violates paragraph (2)(B) shall be 15 fined not more than $50,000, imprisoned for 16 not more than 6 months or both. 17 (4) The Director of the Office of Government 18 Ethics, or any Committee referred to in subsection 19 (c)(2), may refer to the Attorney General the name 20 of any individual which such Director or Committee 21 has reasonable cause to believe has violated para- 22 graph (2). 23 (f) ALTERNATIVE DISCLOSURE BY SECRETARY OF 24 THE TREASURY.—Section 6103(l) of the Internal Revenue 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 950 IH Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the fol- 1 lowing new paragraph: 2 ‘‘(23) DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS OF THE 3 PRESIDENT.— 4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If any Federal income 5 tax return required to be submitted to the Di- 6 rector of the Office of Government Ethics under 7 subsection (a) or (b) of section 2 of the Presi- 8 dential Tax Disclosure Act of 2019 is not so 9 submitted before the date specified in such sub- 10 section with respect to such submission (or if 11 any such return so submitted is incomplete or 12 inaccurate), the Secretary shall disclose such re- 13 turn to the Director of the Office of Govern- 14 ment Ethics not later than 30 days after such 15 date. 16 ‘‘(B) REDACTIONS; ETC.—Rules similar to 17 the rules of section 2(d) of the Presidential Tax 18 Disclosure Act of 2019 shall apply for purposes 19 of this paragraph, except that the Secretary 20 shall redact the information described in sub- 21 paragraphs (A) through (D) of paragraph (2) 22 of such section before disclosing such return 23 under subparagraph (A). 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 950 IH ‘‘(C) REDISCLOSURE.—Return information 1 disclosed under subparagraph (A) may be redis- 2 closed by the Director of the Office of Govern- 3 ment Ethics as provided in section 2(c) of the 4 Presidential Tax Disclosure Act of 2019.’’. 5 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend- 6 ments made by this section, shall apply with respect to 7 individuals assuming the office of President after Decem- 8 ber 31, 2016. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:22 Feb 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H950.IH H950 khammond on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with BILLS