Every Arizona Republican Voted To Keep Trump's Tax Returns Secret

Monday night, Congress blocked a resolution that would have forced the president to hand over his tax returns.

February 28, 2017

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The fact that Donald Trump has yet to release his tax returns should worry everyone, regardless of where you stand politically.

Experts say his refusal sets a bad precedent for future candidates. His failure to disclose the details of his financial holdings also means that there's a whole lot that we don't know — for instance, what's the exact nature of his relationship with Russia?

But on Monday night, every one of Arizona's Republican representatives in Congress voted to block a resolution that would have forced Trump to turn over his tax returns.

Martha McSally, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, David Schweikert, and Trent Franks are all listed as voting in favor of the resolution, which passed with a 229-185 majority. We've reached each out to each representative to ask them to explain their vote, and will update this post with any responses.

Opposing the resolution were Democrats Tom O'Halleran, Ruben Gallego, and Kyrsten Sinema. Raul Grijalva abstained from voting.

Though Trump isn't legally required to publish his tax returns, every other major party nominee since 1976 has done so.

His excuse is that he's being audited by the IRS — an argument which tax experts find questionable.

And though Trump has claimed that only "the media" cares about seeing his tax returns, polling data shows that 74 percent of Americans think he should release them.

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Antonia Noori Farzan is a staff writer at New Times and an honors graduate of Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Before moving to Arizona, she worked for the New Times Broward-Palm Beach.

Contact: Antonia Noori Farzan