Hillary Clinton released her 2015 tax returns on Friday, showing she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, earned $10.6 million and paid roughly a third of that in federal income tax.
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But the release wasn’t about their federal tax rate of 34.2 percent or the fact they made $10.6 million-less than half of the $28 million they made in 2014.
The bulk of their income – more than $6 million (about €5.4 million) – came from speaking fees for appearances largely made before Ms Clinton launched her campaign last April.
The Clinton campaign challenged Mr. Trump to release his tax returns.
Her campaign is also releasing returns from running mate Tim Kaine and his wife. “Donald Trump is hiding behind fake excuses and backtracking on his previous promises to release his tax returns”, Palmieri continued. “What is he trying to hide?” queried Jennifer Palmieri, Hillary for America communications director.
Trump and his lawyer have said the IRS is auditing his returns, so he can’t or won’t release them, although there is no legal prohibition on releasing returns that are being audited.
Presidential candidates are not legally required to release their tax returns, although the practice has been the norm for more than four decades.
The Clintons’ main sources of income were Bill Clinton’s paid speeches, to the tune of 5.2 million U.S. dollars, and a payment to Hillary Clinton from the publisher of her last book, Simon & Schuster, for 3 million United States dollars. Hillary Clinton earned nearly $1.5 million from speaking fees and another $3 million from a book deal. Adding an effective state and local income tax rate of 9.0%, the couple’s total tax rate was 43.2%.
Clinton and former president Bill Clinton have made their tax returns public every year dating back to 1977. He has said he will release them once the audit is over.
Hillary Clinton is taking advantage of a tax loophole provided by Donald Trump.
But we are left with the same criticism of Clinton that we had of Trump earlier this week: Without details of how she would pay for her programs, it’s hard to judge her plans and we have too many questions.
As CNN reports, “with the release of her 2015 income taxes, Clinton has now released 39 years’ worth of tax returns over the course of her career”.
Today, those profits are taxed at a top rate of 39.6%.
When asked what his tax rate was exactly, Trump responded, “It’s none of your business”.
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A lower income would undermine his image as a successful businessman.
