2006 New York Code - Information And Records To Be Secret.

 
    § 11-818 Information and records to be secret. a. Except in accordance
  with proper judicial order, or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be
  unlawful  for the commissioner of finance, the tax appeals tribunal, any
  other agency, officer or employee of the city, the commissioner of motor
  vehicles, any officer or employee of the department of  motor  vehicles,
  any  agent  of  the  commissioner of motor vehicles, or any other person
  who, pursuant to this section, is permitted to inspect any  registration
  or  return filed hereunder, or to whom a copy, an abstract or portion of
  any registration or return filed hereunder is furnished, or to whom  any
  information  contained  in any registration or return filed hereunder is
  furnished, to divulge or  make  known  in  any  manner  any  information
  relating to or contained in any registration or any kind of return filed
  hereunder.    The officers charged with the custody of such registration
  and returns pertaining to the tax hereunder shall  not  be  required  to
  produce  any  of  them  or evidence of anything contained in them in any
  action or proceeding in any court, except on behalf  of  the  city,  the
  commissioner  of  finance,  the  state  or  the  commissioner  of  motor
  vehicles, in an action  or  proceeding  under  the  provisions  of  this
  chapter, or on behalf of any party to any action or proceeding under the
  provisions  of this chapter when the registration, return or facts shown
  therein are directly involved in such action or proceeding, in either of
  which events, the court may require the production of, and may admit  in
  evidence,  so  much  of said registration, return, or of the facts shown
  therein, as are pertinent to the action or proceeding and no  more.  The
  commissioner  of  finance may, nevertheless, publish a copy or a summary
  of any determination or decision rendered after a  formal  hearing  held
  pursuant  to  section  11-810  or 11-811 of this chapter. Nothing herein
  shall be construed to prohibit the delivery to a person or such person's
  duly authorized representative of a certified copy of  any  registration
  or  return  filed  by  such  person; nor to prohibit the delivery of any
  original return, with any notation that the commissioner of  finance  or
  the  commissioner of motor vehicles may cause to be made thereon, to the
  person filing the return, whether such person files the return on his or
  her own behalf or on behalf of another, or to the person on whose behalf
  the return is filed; nor to prohibit the commissioner  of  finance  from
  providing  by rule for the display or production of any original return,
  as an indicium of payment of the tax imposed by  this  chapter;  nor  to
  prohibit  the  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the
  identification of particular registrations and  returns  and  the  items
  thereof;  nor  to  prohibit  the  delivery  of  a  certified copy of any
  registration or return to the United States of America or any department
  thereof, the state of New York or any department thereof,  the  city  of
  New York or any department thereof provided it is requested for official
  business,  nor  to prohibit the inspection by the corporation counsel or
  other legal representatives of the city, the  attorney  general  of  the
  state  of  New  York or other legal representatives of the department of
  motor vehicles, or by the district attorney of  any  county  within  the
  city  of the registration or return of any person who shall bring action
  to set aside or review any tax hereunder, or against whom an  action  or
  proceeding  under  this chapter is instituted. Returns, or reproductions
  thereof, pertaining to any motor vehicle registered hereunder  shall  be
  preserved  for  three  years  and  thereafter  until the commissioner of
  finance or the  commissioner  of  motor  vehicles  permits  them  to  be
  destroyed.
    b.  (1)  Any  officer or employee of the city or the state of New York
  who willfully violates the provisions of subdivision a of  this  section
  shall  be  dismissed  from office and be incapable of holding any public


  office in this city or the state of New York for a period of five  years
  thereafter.
    (2) Cross-reference: For criminal penalties, see chapter forty of this
  title.
    c.  This  section  shall  be  deemed  a  state statute for purposes of
  paragraph (a) of subdivision two of section eighty-seven of  the  public
  officers law.
    d.  Notwithstanding  anything  in subdivision a of this section to the
  contrary, if a taxpayer has petitioned  the  tax  appeals  tribunal  for
  administrative  review as provided in section one hundred seventy of the
  charter, the commissioner of finance shall be authorized to  present  to
  the  tribunal  any report or return of such taxpayer, or any information
  contained therein or relating thereto, which may be material or relevant
  to the proceeding before the tribunal. The tax appeals tribunal shall be
  authorized to publish a copy or  a  summary  of  any  decision  rendered
  pursuant to section one hundred seventy-one of the charter.