The Legislature has recently passed and sent to the governor’s desk S-3048/A-4520, which requires candidates for president and vice president of United States to disclose federal income tax returns in order to appear on the ballot in New Jersey. This measure is obviously directed at President Donald Trump’s decision to break with longstanding tradition by refusing to disclose his tax returns.
While we might individually agree that it is good practice for presidential candidates to be transparent about their financial affairs, the sole incentive to coerce a candidate to abide by that practice must remain the risk of angering the voters by noncompliance. Article I, section 1, paragraph 5, of the Constitution lists three, and only three, qualifications to become President: (1) 35 years of age, (2) natural born citizen of the United States, and (3) 14 years a resident of the United States. The logical extension of the argument that this enumeration of qualifications is merely a floor, not a ceiling, would be that each of the 50 states could add its own peculiar requirement that candidates must meet. If New Jersey can require disclosure of tax returns in order to promote fiscal transparency, why could Massachusetts not require disclosure of a candidate’s college transcript in order that the voters can assess the equally laudable attribute of intellectual achievement? Or why could not California, seeking to determine someone’s adherence to a healthy lifestyle and diet, require the results of a blood test to check for cholesterol levels? There is literally no end to the additional qualifications that an individual state might imagine were particularly relevant to the voters of that state in selecting the president.
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