The San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times and other MediaNews Group papers in the Bay Area are calling upon the four major candidates for governor to release copies of their federal and state tax returns from the past decade.
If the candidates comply, the newspaper group plans to post them on its Web sites, said Dave Butler, Mercury News editor and BANG’s chief news executive.
The Merc notes that while some candidates in the past have released their returns, no standard has emerged. Two of the candidates, Republicans Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, are billionaires. A third Republican, former South Bay Congressman Tom Campbell, has close Silicon Valley ties. Another unknown is whether Democrat Jerry Brown has outside income beyond his state paycheck as attorney general.