It's possible that the person who pulled Donald Trump's New York state tax records for the New York Times also pulled the attached IRS tax records, too. That would put both the person that pulled it and anyone atthe New York Times who read the records--the article author, the editor above him, possibly even the paper's Editor-in-Chief and even the publishing company liable under both New York State AND Federal laws in regards to income tax form privacy.
I’ve been trying to make that very argument on another thread.
Either they didn’t run this by their legal department, OR they have reason to believe they’ll never be prosecuted for this.