<u+201c>you don<u+2019>t learn much from tax returns,<u+201d> donald j. trump said last week in the first presidential debate. that line may become as famous a gaffe as gerald ford<u+2019>s claiming in a 1976 debate that eastern europe wasn<u+2019>t under soviet domination. mr. trump<u+2019>s 1995 tax return, portions of which were published over the weekend by the new york times, shows that he had such huge losses in the early 1990s that, thanks to incredibly favorable tax laws, he could have potentially avoided paying federal taxes for up to 18 years. we don<u+2019>t know how much tax he did avoid, since mr. trump won<u+2019>t release his other returns, and there is no law requiring him to. mr. trump isn<u+2019>t the only candidate who says we<u+2019>ll just have to trust him. across the country, there are laws that restrict access to information about public officials<u+2019> financial holdings and connections. the result is a veil of secrecy that shields government officials from public scrutiny of potential conflicts of interests and self-dealing. mr. trump did file a mandatory financial disclosure form with the federal election commission that showed he earned at least $615 million in income in 2015. but as hillary clinton, who did release her tax returns, argued in the debate, the disclosure forms <u+201c>don<u+2019>t give you the tax rate. they don<u+2019>t give you all the details that tax returns would.<u+201d> we can<u+2019>t tell what mr. trump paid in taxes for 2015 or what he might have donated to charity. (for the record, mrs. clinton earned $6.5 million in 2015, paid an effective federal tax rate of 34 percent and donated more than $1 million to charity.) but while corruption <u+2014> and the threat of corruption <u+2014> in washington grabs the biggest headlines, the portion of state and local cases has generally grown as part of the overall public corruption caseload. the department of justice has charged more than 7,000 state and local officials with public corruption over the past two decades. we have examined data across the 50 states, assessing the quality of information disclosed, the degree to which the data is accessible to the public and the integrity of the information disclosed. there is a litany of inadequacies. almost one-third of states currently do not allow online access to legislators<u+2019> financial disclosure statements. three states <u+2014> michigan, idaho and vermont <u+2014> do not have a systematic method for lawmakers to reveal their financial disclosures at all. the release of tax returns is usually only a matter of custom in, for example, governor<u+2019>s races, and is not required of state legislators. in our home state of massachusetts, by law someone requesting a form must show a state driver<u+2019>s license; the public official in question is then notified of the requester<u+2019>s name. this is a textbook form of deterrence: just 125 individuals in massachusetts requested financial disclosure forms in the entire 2014 calendar year, and only 58 requests were made in 2015. in maryland, which has aggressive disclosure requirements, 15,000 public servants must file annual financial statements. but hardly anyone is paying attention. maryland law requires requesters to show up at the state ethics commission in person, and the public officials are notified of the requests. the commission estimates that fewer than a couple of dozen of those files are viewed by the public each year. what is even more striking than the barriers to access, however, is the poor quality of information available. we recently examined disclosure forms by governors across the country, and there is wild variation in disclosure standards. some forms feature only the loosest of definitions for financial interests: there is no way to tell whether or not a public official has a deep or shallow tie to outside business interests. some forms don<u+2019>t require real estate holdings and gifts. most bury relevant information in appendices. in wyoming, public officials merely have to check a box if they have <u+201c>any security or interest earnings<u+201d> and <u+201c>real estate, leases, royalties.<u+201d> check. but nothing more. further, most state ethics commissions tell us that they don<u+2019>t independently audit the statements. this kind of <u+201c>hear no evil, see no evil<u+201d> honor-system disclosure, lacking even the threat of a random audit, would be appalling to compliance officers and accountants across the private sector. so how should we reform our disclosure laws? at a minimum, we believe all elected officials at the state and local level should have to file financial disclosures that list all their sources of income and amounts over the preceding 10 years. that information should be accessible online, and easy to find, for the public to review and analyze. we also think disclosure forms at the state and local level should be designed for interpretation by average citizens, and forms should be more than just a year<u+2019>s snapshot <u+2014> they should paint a fuller picture of an official<u+2019>s major income sources and business ties over the past 10 years. with trust in government at historic lows, we should demand that all officeholders with significant power <u+2014> presidential candidates, senators, congressmen, governors and state lawmakers <u+2014> disclose their tax returns. the issue is not a partisan one. we asked the question of our own republican governor, charlie baker, who released his tax returns during the 2014 campaign. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re either going to have a standard that says everybody who runs should release their returns, or not,<u+201d> he said. transparency and disclosure won<u+2019>t solve all our problems. it will continue to take investigative reporters and watchdog groups to dig out conflicts of interest and connect the dots. that could prove harder than ever as the number of reporters in state capitols has continued to decline. but the process begins with access to information. if mr. trump<u+2019>s taxes do nothing else, they should activate citizens to demand transparency at every level of government. john wihbey and mike beaudet teach at the school of journalism at northeastern university. follow the new york times opinion section on facebook and twitter (@nytopinion) , and sign up for the opinion today newsletter . a version of this op-ed appears in print on october 4, 2016, on page a23 of the new york edition with the headline: financial disclosure, wrapped in secrecy. today's paper | subscribe
why it<u+2019>s so hard to see politicians<u+2019> financial data
john wihbey mike beaudet