Every major-party nominee for president in the past 30 years has publicly released their tax returns — except for Donald Trump. This lack of transparency by our now-president has been met with months of outcry from his opponents, although legally and otherwise, he had no reason not to do so. Soon, however, this might not be the case.
A proposed Massachusetts ballot initiative requiring U.S. presidential candidates to release their tax returns overcame a major hurdle on Wednesday when Attorney General Maura Healey certified the initiative petition, along with those of 20 other bills on a variety of issues. This doesn’t necessarily mean we will see these issues on the ballot in 2018, but now it is a real possibility. First, they have to jump through a few more hoops, including gaining thousands of signatures in their support.
For many democrats and moderates across the Commonwealth, the knee-jerk reaction to this news is sure to be “yes, finally, how soon can we make this happen?” But here’s the thing — maybe we shouldn’t.
When people see this initiative, they will see nothing but Trump, without looking at the larger issue at hand. If the ballot question is passed, it would do so for all the wrong reasons.
As for the possibility of this measure finally forcing Trump’s oh-so-evasive tax returns out into the open by the time election season rolls around in 2020 — the odds of this working are close to nonexistent. It would more likely than not take several other states to follow-suit with similar bills before Trump was compelled to act. Furthermore, the process of turning a bill into law is neither fast nor easy, and even Massachusetts might not have this measure in place quickly enough, forget about any states whose electoral votes Trump might actually have a chance at.
There also stands a larger democratic issue here: who are we as a state, to say what disqualifies a person from being allowed on our ballots? As is, the only qualifications for being on a presidential ballot are enumerated in the U.S. Constitution. This ballot question would be attempting to alter that structure — no small feat. Are tax returns merely something voters want, or are they actually something voters must have? Should citizens not be allowed to decide for themselves whether un-released tax returns makes a candidate qualified for office?
Obviously, at the polls, voters would still have the opportunity to write-in Trump, or any other candidate who failed to meet this new standard. However, a candidate who is not on the ballot is sure to lose an exponential amount of votes compared to one who is. Who are we to make that call in an election? Voters should have the opportunity to see all of the potential candidates on their ballots, not just the ones whose ethical standards we agree with.
Just because someone doesn’t think Trump — or anyone for that matter — should win an election doesn’t mean he shouldn’t be allowed to compete.
But the truth is, this shouldn’t be about Trump at all. This issue is being considered for the ballot out of nothing more than a visceral response to the events of 2016. People are upset, and rightly so. However, this is no way to address that problem. This ballot initiative is the culmination of a some people in Massachusetts having bad feelings about Trump and his administration. This is not actually an important issue to us as a state, long-term.
Sure, taking an ethical stand is good. In fact, it’s great. Just not when the consequences are this high.
There are other ballot questions being considered here: $15 minimum wage, and paid family and medical leave, for example — issues that would directly impact the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Massachusetts, where the question of tax returns simply would not.
It is true that adding one question to the ballot in no way prevents the existence of another. We could easily vote on all of these issues on a single ballot. However, the kind of time, money and energy that would go into the campaign for both getting this initiative on the ballot and passing it thereafter would undoubtedly take those resources away from other, more serious issues.
For a state to make a decision like this would be unprecedented, and that’s not going to go unnoticed on the national stage. Realistically, there is going to be some serious pushback if this ballot initiative gains momentum, potentially even going all the way up to the Supreme Court. That would be a major distraction, to say the least.
What are the consequences of diverting our energy toward this? What would we be sacrificing in order to take a stand and gain some moral high ground? Our legislative resources should be focused on more pressing issues that are more relevant to the lives of people in Massachusetts.
Having presidential candidates release their tax returns is not an unimportant issue. However, this is not a hill worth dying on. Prioritizing real people and the issues that really affect them is what we need to do in these chaotic times. We cannot get so caught up on hating Trump that we fail to see how much we’re losing along the way.
