Disclosing tax return information has always been a dicey topic. Under the guise of transparency, there have been several proposals by tax advocates over the years to disclose tax information. The focus of these proposals has generally been on the taxes paid by corporate America and the use of tax planning strategies. As a general principle, this type of limited public disclosure does not lead to good tax policy. The New York legislation, however, does not authorize this type of public disclosure of tax information. Setting the political undertones aside for the moment, one could argue the legislation is merely an expansion of existing governmental tax sharing arrangements.
"To Share Tax Information or Not Is the Question" was published in State Tax Notes (Volume 92, Number 13) June 24, 2019 for it's subscribers. Read the full article here