I 118THCONGRESS 1 STSESSION H. R. 908 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the disclosure of tax returns of Presidents and Vice Presidents and certain candidates for President and Vice President, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY9, 2023 Ms. E SHOO(for herself, Mr. PASCRELL, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. P ANETTA, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. S CHIFF, Ms. NORTON, Mr. KEATING, Ms. TITUS, Ms. WILLIAMSof Georgia, Mr. D AVISof Illinois, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. BEYER, Mr. COHEN, Mr. P AYNE, Ms. CLARKEof New York, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. C ARSON, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. POCAN, Mr. F OSTER, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. KILDEE, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. POR- TER, Mr. SOTO, Mr. COURTNEY, and Ms. DELBENE) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the disclosure of tax returns of Presidents and Vice Presidents and certain candidates for President and Vice President, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 908 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Presidential Tax 2 Transparency Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL TAX 4 TRANSPARENCY. 5 (a) D EFINITIONS.—In this section— 6 (1) The term ‘‘covered candidate’’ means a can-7 didate of a major party in a general election for the 8 office of President or Vice President. 9 (2) The term ‘‘major party’’ has the meaning 10 given the term in section 9002 of the Internal Rev-11 enue Code of 1986. 12 (3) The term ‘‘income tax return’’ means, with 13 respect to an individual, any return (as such term is 14 defined in section 6103(b)(1) of the Internal Rev-15 enue Code of 1986, except that such term shall not 16 include declarations of estimated tax) of— 17 (A) such individual, other than information 18 returns issued to persons other than such indi-19 vidual; or 20 (B) of any corporation, partnership, or 21 trust in which such individual holds, directly or 22 indirectly, a significant interest as the sole or 23 principal owner or the sole or principal bene-24 ficial owner (as such terms are defined in regu-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 908 IH lations prescribed by the Secretary of the 1 Treasury or his delegate). 2 (4) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 3 of the Treasury or the delegate of the Secretary. 4 (b) D ISCLOSURE.— 5 (1) I N GENERAL.— 6 (A) C ANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT AND 7 VICE PRESIDENT.—Not later than the date that 8 is 15 days after the date on which an individual 9 becomes a covered candidate, the individual 10 shall submit to the Federal Election Commis-11 sion a copy of the individual’s income tax re-12 turns for the 10 most recent taxable years for 13 which a return has been filed with the Internal 14 Revenue Service. 15 (B) P RESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT .— 16 With respect to an individual who is the Presi-17 dent or Vice President, not later than the due 18 date for the return of tax for each taxable year, 19 such individual shall submit to the Federal 20 Election Commission a copy of the individual’s 21 income tax returns for the taxable year and for 22 the 9 preceding taxable years. 23 (C) T RANSITION RULE FOR SITTING PRESI -24 DENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS .—Not later than 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 908 IH the date that is 30 days after the date of enact-1 ment of this section, an individual who is the 2 President or Vice President on such date of en-3 actment shall submit to the Federal Election 4 Commission a copy of the income tax returns 5 for the 10 most recent taxable years for which 6 a return has been filed with the Internal Rev-7 enue Service. 8 (2) F AILURE TO DISCLOSE .—If any require-9 ment under paragraph (1) to submit an income tax 10 return is not met, the chairman of the Federal Elec-11 tion Commission shall submit to the Secretary a 12 written request that the Secretary provide the Fed-13 eral Election Commission with the income tax re-14 turn. 15 (3) P UBLICLY AVAILABLE.—The chairman of 16 the Federal Election Commission shall make publicly 17 available each income tax return submitted under 18 paragraph (1) in the same manner as a return pro-19 vided under section 6103(l)(23) of the Internal Rev-20 enue Code of 1986 (as added by this section). 21 (4) T REATMENT AS A REPORT UNDER THE 22 FEDERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN ACT OF 1971 .—For 23 purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 24 1971, any income tax return submitted under para-25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 908 IH graph (1) or provided under section 6103(l)(23) of 1 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by 2 this section) shall, after redaction under paragraph 3 (3) or subparagraph (B)(ii) of such section, be treat-4 ed as a report filed under the Federal Election Cam-5 paign Act of 1971. 6 (c) D ISCLOSURE OFRETURNS OFPRESIDENTS AND 7 V ICEPRESIDENTS AND CERTAINCANDIDATES FOR 8 P RESIDENT ANDVICEPRESIDENT.— 9 (1) I N GENERAL.—Section 6103(l) of the Inter-10 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at 11 the end the following new paragraph: 12 ‘‘(23) D ISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION 13 OF PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS AND CER -14 TAIN CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESI -15 DENT.— 16 ‘‘(A) I N GENERAL.—Upon written request 17 by the chairman of the Federal Election Com-18 mission under section 2(b)(2) of the Presi-19 dential Tax Transparency Act, not later than 20 the date that is 15 days after the date of such 21 request, the Secretary shall provide copies of 22 any return which is so requested to officers and 23 employees of the Federal Election Commission 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 908 IH whose official duties include disclosure or redac-1 tion of such return under this paragraph. 2 ‘‘(B) D ISCLOSURE TO THE PUBLIC .— 3 ‘‘(i) I N GENERAL.—The chairman of 4 the Federal Election Commission shall 5 make publicly available any return which is 6 provided under subparagraph (A). 7 ‘‘(ii) R EDACTION OF CERTAIN INFOR -8 MATION.—Before making publicly available 9 under clause (i) any return, the chairman 10 of the Federal Election Commission shall 11 redact such information as the Federal 12 Election Commission and the Secretary 13 jointly determine is necessary for pro-14 tecting against identity theft, such as so-15 cial security numbers.’’. 16 (2) C ONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Section 17 6103(p)(4) of such Code is amended— 18 (A) in the matter preceding subparagraph 19 (A) by striking ‘‘or (22)’’ and inserting ‘‘(22), 20 or (23)’’; and 21 (B) in subparagraph (F)(ii) by striking ‘‘or 22 (22),’’ and inserting ‘‘(22), or (23)’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 908 IH (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 1 by this subsection shall apply to disclosures made on 2 or after the date of enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:32 Mar 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H908.IH H908 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS