New York Times: Will Eric Adams Release His Taxes? A Soft ‘No’ Is Now a Qualified ‘Yes.’

In New York, top elected officials have long followed the custom of releasing their tax returns, revealing their income, real estate holdings and charitable donations to the public.

Mayor Eric Adams, however, appeared to be no fan of that particular tradition. So when the tax deadline came and went on Monday, the mayor released nothing.

When asked twice last week if he would commit to releasing his returns, Mr. Adams demurred — drawing criticism from watchdog groups and resurrecting accountability issues that surfaced during the mayoral campaign over his finances and residency.

But now the mayor has apparently had a change of heart. His spokesman, Fabien Levy, said on Tuesday that Mr. Adams would indeed release his tax information — just not anytime soon. …

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a watchdog group, said Mr. Adams never should have hesitated in deciding to release his tax returns.

“This is not a gotcha question from the press — this is the sort of thing that real people on the street pay attention to,” she said. “The mayor shouldn’t be playing cat and mouse with something that should be an obvious transparency measure.”