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California law on Trump tax returns challenged in court
Four California voters represented by Judicial Watch sued the state after Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring presidential candidates to publish at least five years of income tax returns for the main ballot of the state. William La Jeunesse reports.
California Republicans Criticize New Law Requiring Candidates for Governor and President to Disclose Income Tax Returns to Run for Primary Polls in 2020 – Concerned about the Consequences of Their Party's Electoral Turnout in Many Elections, Even if the law is aimed primarily at President Trump.
The Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act – signed at the end of July by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom – was an obvious attempt to force Trump to release his financial statements if he wanted his name listed. on the ballot. But it is unlikely that the President will comply with the provisions of the law given his resistance to the publication of tax returns.
CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM CALLS AN INCOMPETENT TROMP IN AN INAUGURAL SPEECH; WISH TO FIGHT WH POLICIES
Republican leaders in the Golden State argue, however, that if the law effectively prevented Trump from participating in the first round of voting in March, it would almost guarantee a depressed Republican turnout – hurting candidates who voted in the congressional and presidential elections. in other general election due to the unique primary system of the state.
"We are not talking about keeping President Trump out of the polls during the general election," Jessica Patterson, president of the Republican Party of California, told Fox News. "But what this is going to do is make sure that Republican voters stay home for the primaries and give Democrats a great chance in general elections."
Here's why: Under California's "jungle" primary system, all candidates, regardless of party, compete for the same elected office and the first two voters go to general elections. Since its implementation in California in 2010, this system has often been the guarantor of a battle for general elections between Democrats in all but the most conservative regions of California. A reduced turnout in the GOP in 2020 could mean even fewer Republicans in general elections.
Democratic lawmakers who introduced the transparency bill are balked at the idea that it is supposed to hinder Republicans' chances of appearing on the ballot, they argue that its goal is to keep all presidential candidates who are honest about their income and the source of their money.
"While Donald Trump has revealed the gap in tax returns that shut down SB 27, it is not Trump," said California State Senator Scott Wiener in a statement. at Fox News. "It's more about all presidential candidates from all parties. When a person seeks to become the most powerful person in the world, voters deserve basic information about his finances. That's all we ask.
In May, Wiener and his Democratic counterpart, Mike McGuire, proposed changes to the voting requirements. Despite the law's promise to monitor candidates from all political parties, the two lawmakers strongly condemned Trump's refusal to publish his tax returns.
"People are on our side, more than 60% of Americans want President Trump to make public his return," McGuire said in a statement. "Voters deserve to know, for example, whether the president is endangering America's security through its interweaving of commercial relations with corporations and its relations with foreign governments and foreign banks. Here is the final result: what should it hide? "
THE COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE AFTER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION FOR PRESIDENT'S TAX RETURNS
It remains to be determined whether the law will be in effect in the first election next year – the Trump campaign and the conservative watch group Judicial Watch have filed two separate federal lawsuits in the eastern district of California to challenge its constitutionality.
Experts say the law will have little effect on the presidential race. At this point, Trump could lose the leading role of California, but easily close the nomination. Congress and other negative voting elections could, however, suffer the consequences of the legislation.
"You're already going to see a big gap in voter turnout between Republicans and Democrats, because Trump is an outgoing president with no real challengers in the primary," Eric McGhee, a senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, told Fox News. "But if this materializes, it could have a significant impact on negative polls because of the country's two best-performing systems."
Republicans see a thin silver lining. GOP officials in California said they would try to use the law to motivate Republicans who would normally stay at home.
"We will use this as a rallying cry to show Californians the arrogance of the Democratic Party in this state," Patterson said.
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Some experts, however, are skeptical – given Trump's unpopularity in the state and the fact that the California primary was postponed to the Super Tuesday, March 3 – that Republican efforts to denounce any democratic power play will be sufficient to generate meaningful participation and counterbalance what should be a significant and motivated democratic electorate.
Paul Mitchell, political consultant and vice president of Political Data Inc., told Politico that 2020 looked like an "asymmetrical election" where Democrats will be much more motivated than Republicans to go to the polls.
"This has enough potential impact to impact the primaries by crushing a Republican here and there," Mitchell said, especially if Republicans "boycott" the primary to protest the new law. "… [I]This is a significant probability.
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