I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 305 
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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 5, 2017 
Ms. ESHOO (for herself, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. HUFFMAN, 
Ms. SLAUGHTER, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. POCAN, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Ms. BROWNLEY of Cali-
fornia, Mr. BEYER, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. KIND, 
Mr. PERLMUTTER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SOTO, and Mr. 
BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
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. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Tax 
Transparency Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS BY PRESIDENTS 
AND CERTAIN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title I of the Ethics in Govern-
ment Act of 1978 (5 U.S.C. App.) is amended— 
(1) by inserting after section 102 the following: 
‘‘SEC. 102A. DISCLOSURE OF TAX RETURNS. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘covered candidate’ means an in-
dividual— 
‘‘(A) required to file a report under section 
101(c); and 
‘‘(B) who is nominated by a major party 
as a candidate for the office of President; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘covered individual’ means— 
‘‘(A) a President required to file a report 
under subsection (a) or (d) of section 101; and 
‘‘(B) an individual who occupies the office 
of the President required to file a report under 
section 101(e); 
‘‘(3) the term ‘major party’ has the meaning 
given the term in section 9002 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986; and 
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‘‘(4) the term ‘income tax return’ means, with 
respect to any covered candidate or covered indi-
vidual, any return (within the meaning of section 
6103(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) re-
lated to Federal income taxes, but does not in-
clude— 
‘‘(A) information returns issued to persons 
other than such covered candidate or covered 
individual; and 
‘‘(B) declarations of estimated tax. 
‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE.— 
‘‘(1) COVERED INDIVIDUALS.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to the in-
formation described in subsections (a) and (b) 
of section 102, a covered individual shall in-
clude in each report required to be filed under 
this title a copy of the income tax returns of the 
covered individual for the 3 most recent taxable 
years for which a return has been filed with the 
Internal Revenue Service as of the date on 
which the report is filed. 
‘‘(B) FAILURE
TO
DISCLOSE.—If an in-
come tax return is not disclosed under subpara-
graph (A), the Director of the Office of Govern-
ment Ethics shall submit to the Secretary of 
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the Treasury a request that the Secretary of 
the Treasury provide the Director of the Office 
of Government Ethics with a copy of the in-
come tax return. 
‘‘(C) PUBLICLY AVAILABLE.—Each income 
tax return submitted under this paragraph shall 
be filed with the Director of the Office of Gov-
ernment Ethics and made publicly available in 
the same manner as the information described 
in subsections (a) and (b) of section 102. 
‘‘(D) REDACTION OF CERTAIN INFORMA-
TION.—Before making any income tax return 
submitted under this paragraph available to the 
public, the Director of the Office of Government 
Ethics shall redact such information as the Di-
rector of the Office of Government Ethics, in 
consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury 
(or a delegate of the Secretary), determines ap-
propriate. 
‘‘(2) CANDIDATES.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 15 
days after the date on which a covered can-
didate is nominated, the covered candidate shall 
amend the report filed by the covered candidate 
under section 101(c) with the Federal Election 
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