Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton made the first move in the income-tax standoff with Republican nominee Donald Trump by releasing her income taxes Friday, putting pressure on Trump to follow suit.
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In 2015, the Clintons made $1 million in charitable contributions, mostly to the Clinton Foundation; former President Bill Clinton brought in almost $5.3 million in speaking fees; and the former secretary of state reported income of $3 million from publisher Simon & Schuster for her book on her tenure at the State Department.
The returns became a campaign issue after the documents showed he paid an effective tax rate of 14.1%, much lower than the typical rate for top earners.
Mrs. Clinton hoped the release would embarrass GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has refused to release any of his, while also shining a light on the high rate she and her husband paid in their own taxes.
The Clintons have disclosed returns for every year since 1977, in part due to laws requiring public officials release returns. “What is he trying to hide?”, said Jennifer Palmieri. They gave more than $1,042,000 to charity, with $1 million going to the Clinton family foundation.
The ad shows a series of Republicans, including Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz, blasting the supposed billionaire businessman for hiding his tax returns from the public. This matters for Trump, because some 200 of the companies in his business empire are pass-throughs, which led to Clinton’s criticism of the plan. The couple earned more than $10m in 2015, the documents say.
He and his wife, Anne Holton, reported $313,441 in total income, and owed $63,626 in federal taxes.
Meanwhile, Clinton’s running mate, Sen.
Hillary Clinton gave dozens of paid speeches in 2013, 2014 and 2015 but gave this up before launching her candidacy for the White House in April 2015.
Clinton had already released her tax returns for the years 2001-2014. “There’s nothing to learn from them”, he said.
“There are no rules against showing your tax returns and just let people ask us questions about the items that are on there”, said Buffett. Hillary earned about $3m from book royalties. For three other years – 1978, 1979 and 1984 – records show Trump paid no income taxes.
Clinton delivered six paid speeches in 2015, including one to the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Hillary Clinton has faced calls to release the transcripts of her speeches, particularly from the three she gave for Goldman Sachs for a total of $US675,000.
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However, they didn’t get to claim their total Schedule A amount.
