I have been thinking about the legislation proposed by Rep. Sandy Levin to require the release of a Presidential Candidate's Tax Returns.
I would go futher than the 10 years that that Rep Sandy Levin has proposed and make it 14 years, and make it an automatic thing the IRS does, not the candidate.
Here's why. In the Constituion, to be elgible to be President, one must not only be a "natural born citizen", one must have also been a resident of the USA proper for at least 14 years. Therefore, I think anyone running for President be required to release the previous 14 years of Tax Returns, or better yet, make such release of tax returns an automatic thing the IRS does upon somone becoming an official candidate for the Presidency or Vice President. This would mean it would not not be up up to the candidate to release or withhold those returns as per the proposed law.
This not only provides proof of residency as required by the Consitituion, but gets out in the public the candidate's fianancial activities, good or bad.
jtg
10:33 AM PT: In this case, the role of the IRS would be ONLY to release the actual tax documents submitted by the candidate, along with any audit results. The IRS would play no role beyond that of document release.
Financial information is quite relevant to a presidential candidate. It's silly to compare release of financial documents to something personal and trivial as "dating history". While Health is a relevant,tis is not the 1930s with FDR. It's hard to hide a health problem in the modern mega-media campaigns. A weakness would become apparent and likely an issue in such a campaign.
10:36 AM PT: Yes, while this is aimed at Romney, this is for the future, 2016 and beyond.. I doubt there's any way this proposal could become law in this election cycle.