The New York Legislature voted on a bill that would allow the release of President Trump’s state tax returns, potentially opening the door for Congress to obtain tax records for any New York resident that lawmakers may want to investigate. Assemblyman Doug Smith (5^th Assembly District) blasted this bill as a purely political and unconstitutional act at a time when the people of New York need tax relief and critical infrastructure repairs. Assemblyman Smith said this today:

“This action we take today is deeply disturbing. It is clear those who support this bill are using this legislative body as a weapon against President Trump which will set a dangerous precedent that we can target our political enemies through these legislative actions. The United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 9, Paragraph 3, expressly prohibits “bills of attainder,” like this, which legislate penalties against specific individuals without due process.

“When each of us took office, my colleagues and I swore an oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, not the Political Parties. I want to thank the many Assembly Majority and Minority politicians who joined together to denounce and vote against this unconstitutional bill.

“Our state infrastructure continues to crumble, our taxes remain the highest in the US and our residents are continuing to flee, but some would prefer to waste our time to pass unconstitutional laws that the US Congress has already stated they would not use to investigate the president, to score cheap political headlines.”