II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 20 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require the disclosure 

of certain tax returns by Presidents and certain candidates for the 

office of the President, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. 

CARDIN, Mr. CARPER, Mr. COONS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. 

KAINE, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN, Ms. WARREN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules 

and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 to require 

the disclosure of certain tax returns by Presidents and 

certain candidates for the office of the President, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Tax 

5 Transparency Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS BY PRESIDENTS 

2 AND CERTAIN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Ethics in Govern4 ment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 

5 (1) by inserting after section 102 the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 102A. DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS. 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

8 ‘‘(1) the term ‘covered candidate’ means an in9 dividual— 

10 ‘‘(A) required to file a report under section 

11 101(c); and 

12 ‘‘(B) who is nominated by a major party 

13 as a candidate for the office of President; 

14 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered individual’ means— 

15 ‘‘(A) a President required to file a report 

16 under subsection (a) or (d) of section 101; and 

17 ‘‘(B) an individual who occupies the office 

18 of the President required to file a report under 

19 section 101(e); 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘major party’ has the meaning 

21 given the term in section 9002 of the Internal Rev22 enue Code of 1986; and 

23 ‘‘(4) the term ‘income tax return’ means, with 

24 respect to any covered candidate or covered indi25 vidual, any return (within the meaning of section 

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1 lated to Federal income taxes, but does not in2 clude— 

3 ‘‘(A) information returns issued to persons 

4 other than such covered candidate or covered 

5 individual; and 

6 ‘‘(B) declarations of estimated tax. 

7 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE.— 

8 ‘‘(1) COVERED INDIVIDUALS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the in10 formation described in subsections (a) and (b) 

11 of section 102, a covered individual shall in12 clude in each report required to be filed under 

13 this title a copy of the income tax returns of the 

14 covered individual for the 3 most recent taxable 

15 years for which a return has been filed with the 

16 Internal Revenue Service as of the date on 

17 which the report is filed. 

18 ‘‘(B) FAILURE TO DISCLOSE.—If an in19 come tax return is not disclosed under subpara20 graph (A), the Director of the Office of Govern21 ment Ethics shall submit to the Secretary of 

22 the Treasury a request that the Secretary of 

23 the Treasury provide the Director of the Office 

24 of Government Ethics with a copy of the in25 come tax return. 


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1 ‘‘(C) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—Each income 

2 tax return submitted under this paragraph shall 

3 be filed with the Director of the Office of Gov4 ernment Ethics and made publicly available in 

5 the same manner as the information described 

6 in subsections (a) and (b) of section 102. 

7 ‘‘(D) REDACTION OF CERTAIN INFORMA8 TION.—Before making any income tax return 

9 submitted under this paragraph available to the 

10 public, the Director of the Office of Government 

11 Ethics shall redact such information as the Di12 rector of the Office of Government Ethics, in 

13 consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury 

14 (or a delegate of the Secretary), determines ap15 propriate. 

16 ‘‘(2) CANDIDATES.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 

18 days after the date on which a covered can19 didate is nominated, the covered candidate shall 

20 amend the report filed by the covered candidate 

21 under section 101(c) with the Federal Election 

22 Commission to include a copy of the income tax 

23 returns of the covered candidate for the 3 most 

24 recent taxable years for which a return has 

25 been filed with the Internal Revenue Service. 


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1 ‘‘(B) FAILURE TO DISCLOSE.—If an in2 come tax return is not disclosed under subpara3 graph (A) the Federal Election Commission 

4 shall submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a 

5 request that the Secretary of the Treasury pro6 vide the Federal Election Commission with the 

7 income tax return. 

8 ‘‘(C) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—Each income 

9 tax return submitted under this paragraph shall 

10 be filed with the Federal Election Commission 

11 and made publicly available in the same manner 

12 as the information described in section 102(b). 

13 ‘‘(D) REDACTION OF CERTAIN INFORMA14 TION.—Before making any income tax return 

15 submitted under this paragraph available to the 

16 public, the Federal Election Commission shall 

17 redact such information as the Federal Election 

18 Commission, in consultation with the Secretary 

19 of the Treasury (or a delegate of the Secretary) 

20 and the Director of the Office of Government 

21 Ethics, determines appropriate. 

22 ‘‘(3) SPECIAL RULE FOR SITTING PRESI23 DENTS.—Not later than 30 days after the date of 

24 enactment of this section, the President shall submit 

25 to the Director of the Office of Government Ethics 


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1 a copy of the income tax returns described in para2 graph (1)(A).’’; and 

3 (2) in section 104— 

4 (A) in subsection (a)— 

5 (i) in paragraph (1), in the first sen6 tence, by inserting ‘‘or any individual who 

7 knowingly and willfully falsifies or who 

8 knowingly and willfully fails to file an in9 come tax return that such individual is re10 quired to disclose pursuant to section 

11 102A’’ before the period; and 

12 (ii) in paragraph (2)(A)— 

13 (I) in clause (i), by inserting ‘‘or 

14 falsify any income tax return that 

15 such person is required to disclose 

16 under section 102A’’ before the semi17 colon; and 

18 (II) in clause (ii), by inserting 

19 ‘‘or fail to file any income tax return 

20 that such person is required to dis21 close under section 102A’’ before the 

22 period; 

23 (B) in subsection (b), in the first sentence 

24 by inserting ‘‘or willfully failed to file or has 

25 willfully falsified an income tax return required 


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1 to be disclosed under section 102A’’ before the 

2 period; 

3 (C) in subsection (c), by inserting ‘‘or fail4 ing to file or falsifying an income tax return re5 quired to be disclosed under section 102A’’ be6 fore the period; and 

7 (D) in subsection (d)(1)— 

8 (i) in the matter preceding subpara9 graph (A), by inserting ‘‘or files an income 

10 tax return required to be disclosed under 

11 section 102A’’ after ‘‘title’’; and 

12 (ii) in subparagraph (A), by inserting 

13 ‘‘or such income tax return, as applicable,’’ 

14 after ‘‘report’’. 

15 (b) AUTHORITY TO DISCLOSE INFORMATION.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 6103(l) of the Inter17 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 

18 the end the following new paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(23) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION

20 OF PRESIDENTS AND CERTAIN PRESIDENTIAL CAN21 DIDATES.— 

22 ‘‘(A) DISCLOSURE OF RETURNS OF PRESI23 DENTS.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

25 shall, upon written request from the DirecVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:39 Jan 03, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S20.IS S20

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1 tor of the Office of Government Ethics 

2 pursuant to section 102A(b)(1)(B) of the 

3 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, provide 

4 to officers and employees of the Office of 

5 Government Ethics a copy of any income 

6 tax return of the President which is re7 quired to be filed under section 102A of 

8 such Act. 

9 ‘‘(ii) DISCLOSURE TO PUBLIC.—The 

10 Director of the Office of Government Eth11 ics may disclose to the public the income 

12 tax return of any President which is re13 quired to be filed with the Director pursu14 ant to section 102A of the Ethics in Gov15 ernment Act of 1978. 

16 ‘‘(B) DISCLOSURE OF RETURNS OF CER17 TAIN CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT.— 

18 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary 

19 shall, upon written request from the Chair20 man of the Federal Election Commission 

21 pursuant to section 102A(b)(2)(B) of the 

22 Ethics in Government Act of 1978, provide 

23 to officers and employees of the Federal 

24 Election Commission copies of the applica25 ble returns of any person who has been 


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1 nominated as a candidate of a major party 

2 (as defined in section 9002(a)) for the of3 fice of President. 

4 ‘‘(ii) DISCLOSURE TO PUBLIC.—The 

5 Federal Election Commission may disclose 

6 to the public applicable returns of any per7 son who has been nominated as a can8 didate of a major party (as defined in sec9 tion 9002(6)) for the office of President 

10 and which is required to be filed with the 

11 Commission pursuant to section 102A of 

12 the Ethics in Government Act. 

13 ‘‘(C) APPLICABLE RETURNS.—For pur14 poses of this paragraph, the term ‘applicable re15 turns’ means, with respect to any candidate for 

16 the office of President, income tax returns for 

17 the 3 most recent taxable years for which a re18 turn has been filed as of the date of the nomi19 nation.’’. 

20 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

21 6103(p)(4) of such Code, in the matter preceding 

22 subparagraph (A) and in subparagraph (F)(ii), is 

23 amended by striking ‘‘or (22)’’ and inserting ‘‘(22), 

24 or (23)’’ each place it appears. 

Æ 


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