Section 1449-OO. Returns to be secret

1. Except in accordance with proper
  judicial order or as otherwise provided by law, it shall be unlawful for
  the  treasurer  or  any  officer  or  employee  of  the  county or town,
  including any person engaged or  retained  on  an  independent  contract
  basis,  to divulge or make known in any manner the particulars set forth
  or disclosed in any return required under a local law  enacted  pursuant
  to  this  article.  However, that nothing in this section shall prohibit
  the recording officer from making a notation on an instrument  effecting
  a  conveyance  indicating the amount of tax paid. No recorded instrument
  effecting a conveyance shall be considered a return for purposes of this
  section.
    2. The officers charged with the custody of such returns 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
  county or town in any action or proceeding involving the collection of a
  tax due under a local law enacted pursuant to this article to which such
  county  or  town is a party, or a claimant, or on behalf of any party to
  any action or proceeding under the provisions of  a  local  law  enacted
  pursuant  to  this  article  when the returns or facts shown thereby are
  directly involved in such action or proceeding, in any of  which  events
  the  court  may require the production of, and may admit in evidence, so
  much of said returns or of the facts shown thereby, as are pertinent  to
  the action or proceeding and no more.
    3.  Nothing  herein  shall  be construed to prohibit the delivery to a
  grantor or grantee of an instrument effecting a conveyance or  the  duly
  authorized representative of a grantor or grantee of a certified copy of
  any  return  filed in connection with such instrument or to prohibit the
  publication of statistics so classified as to prevent the identification
  of particular returns and the items thereof, or the  inspection  by  the
  legal  representatives  of  such  county  or  town  of the return of any
  taxpayer who shall bring action to set aside or  review  the  tax  based
  thereon.
    4.  Any  officer  or  employee  of  such  county or town who willfully
  violates the provisions of this section shall be dismissed  from  office
  and be incapable of holding any public office in this state for a period
  of five years thereafter.
    * NB Repealed December 31, 2030