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About 60% of Clinton income comes from speeches

The Democratic presidential nominee and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, paid $3.24 million in taxes out of their adjusted gross income of $10.6 million. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton delivered 43 speeches that same year, with speaking fees ranging from 100,000 dollars to 750,000 dollars. Kaine paid a federal tax rate of 20.3 percent in 2015.

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Clinton led Trump by more than five percentage points in a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Friday.

Trump has said “there’s nothing to learn” from his returns and he has released a personal financial statement, which is legally required.

“It’s white-bread stuff. Hillary has been running for president for decades and her tax returns show it”, said Joseph Thorndike, director of the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts and author of the “Politics of Federal Taxation” column for Tax Notes magazine.

Federal tax rates have become an issue in the presidential election.

Meanwhile, Democrats have happily filled the void with speculation that Mr Trump is not giving as much to charity as he claims, is not as wealthy as he has made out, is trying to hide embarrassing business connections at home or overseas. Hillary made almost $1.5 million in income from speaking appearances, while Bill took in $5.25 million that way.

If the Trump campaign is going to raise questions about the Clinton Foundation’s financial dealings, which are fair game, his own business dealings and tax returns should be fair game. The Clintons’ combined earnings from speeches past year clocked in at $5.5 million – well shy of the $9 million Bill Clinton earned in 2007 alone.

“Hillary Clinton has turned over the only records nobody wants to see from her – the American public wants to see the 33,000 emails she deleted to obstruct an FBI investigation”, said Trump spokesman Jason Miller. Trump also has said his taxes are no one’s business and that they reveal little.

Earlier this month, billionaire investor Warren Buffett, a Clinton supporter, challenged Trump to make his tax returns public.

Hillary Clinton also listed $1.475 million in gross income from speaking, and Bill reported $5.25 million in gross income from speaking.

Williams said Clinton is right to say that Trump’s companies would indeed pay half the current tax rate.

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That document gave only an estimate of Trump’s assets, liabilities and income. The top-line numbers: Hillary and Bill Clinton earned a combined $10.6 million a year ago, roughly $6 million of which came from speaking fees paid by corporations and other organizations.

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Hilary Swift  The New York Times
Donald Trump spoke Saturday at a rally at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield Conn