New York State’s tax investigation against Trump continues, and Trump recently said that New York’s tax laws no longer apply to him because he has stepped down as president of the United States, U.S. news outlet Newsmax TV reported Tuesday, April 13.
The law, known as the Trust Act, allows the New York State Assembly Tax Committee to require public officials to provide them with state tax returns. Trump’s lawyers wrote in a court filing that while the Trust Act is not the clearest statute, the best reading is that it does not apply to the former president because he is no longer a public official.
New York state specifically enacted a law in 2019 called the Trust Act, which allows the state Assembly Tax Committee to request state tax returns from public officials. Trump then filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington to block the House Fundraising Committee from accessing his state tax returns. Trump’s lawyers argue that New York State enacted this financial disclosure law to punish Trump for his political statements and views.
Judge Carl Nichols, who is in charge of the case, dismissed the case, saying he had no jurisdiction over it. But he said Trump could then pursue his case against the New York State House of Representatives fundraising committee in state court. Judge Nichols also ordered that the committee must give notice to the court and Trump’s attorneys if it requests Trump’s state tax returns at the same time.
Trump’s attorneys said in the filing, “At this time, the Commission is still pursuing Plaintiff Trump’s financial information. The Commission does not recognize that the Trust Act is limited to sitting presidents, nor does it promise not to invoke the Trust Act against Trump, nor does it agree to give Trump advance notice before invoking the Trust Act.”
But the committee’s attorney, who is a defendant, denied it, saying “the committee has taken no action at all on Trump’s New York State tax returns, nor has it threatened any such action.”
However, while House Fundraising Committee Chairman Richard Neal, a Democrat, did not ask for Trump’s New York State tax returns at the state level, he did try to obtain Trump’s federal tax returns from the Treasury Department and the IRS.
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