Can Nikki Haley Save Us From Presidential Tax Crooks?

In 1973 President Richard Nixon told reporters that “people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook.” He would soon release his tax returns in a bid to ease the nation’s fears — unsuccessfully, as it turned out.

Still, Nixon’s comment marked the start of a voluntary tax disclosure tradition. For nearly half a century afterward, every president, beginning with Jimmy Carter in 1977, and every major party nominee, beginning with Ronald Reagan and Carter in 1980, would make their tax returns public.

That long, bipartisan tradition is almost certainly dead…