California moves a big piece of the political puzzle

We've got to give California credit for maintaining its leadership identity, whether or not we appreciate the style of that lead.

Let's See Those Tax Returns!

According to Taxnotes:

Presidents aren’t required by law to release their tax returns. Nevertheless, between 1974 and 2012, every president but Gerald Ford has made a voluntary release of the tax returns they filed while in office. Ford released no complete returns, but released 10 years of summary data including gross income, taxable income, major deductions, and taxes paid.

In a political move of great potential significance, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a requirement that all presidential candidates desiring placement on voting ballots disclose their tax returns.

Now, that's a serious kind of progress in roughly an 80/20 wealth-disparate nation where most individuals remain greatly burdened by tax requirements from which they have no hope of hiding, while a healthy portion of that relatively small and economically advantaged percentage manage to hide inside various loopholes. But, we're bound to hear no end to this development from a disgruntled, presumably conservative Trump fan base.

Feels like another case for the courts . . . and guess who pays for all that time and trouble. When you think about how much we all pay for these ongoing stalls to equality, progress, and basic truths, you begin to realize how truly unworthy so many representatives may be. While most seem to ride along the status quo, only a few stand strong in furtherance of the better interests of the people as a whole.

Party Control of state Legislatures & Governorships by ScottSteiner, derived from: State political control.jpg map template from Blank US Map (states only).svg, original data sourced from Multistate and New York Times