Hillary and Bill Clinton earned $10.6 million a year ago, according to a tax filing released by her campaign Friday that sought to pressure presidential rival Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns. The Clintons, who now live in Chappaqua, New York, paid an average effective federal tax rate of about 32 percent from 2007 to 2014 and an effective combined tax rate of approximately 40.5 percent. The bulk of their income – more than 6 million dollars (£4.6 million) – came from speaking fees for appearances largely made before Ms Clinton launched her campaign last April.
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“In many respects, you know, they honor President Obama”, Trump said Wednesday during a raucous campaign rally outside Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The fact that he won’t release his taxes has raised questions about the actual size of his fortune and some of his businesses connections.
Trump says he’s not releasing them because he’s under audit and said he would when the audit is complete. Asked specifically about USA citizens, Trump said he didn’t like that President Barack Obama and others wanted to try them in traditional courts rather than military commissions at Guantanamo Bay.
Ahead of November’s election, the Clinton camp is seeking to undermine the trustworthiness of her Republican rival, Mr Trump.
Their tax return showed that they paid $3.24 million in federal income taxes. Now, six months later, Clinton has reached out to Kissinger and a growing number of Republicans disdained by progressives who she hopes will endorse her over Republican Donald Trump.
“Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine continue to set the standard for financial transparency as she releases her 2015 personal tax return and builds on the Clintons’ tradition of making their returns public since 1977 and Kaine releases 10 years of his returns”, said Hillary for America director Jennifer Palmieri.
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.
“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.
A source close to Clinton said she would soon release her return, supplementing the decades of filings she and her husband have already made public.
The IRS has said Trump is free to release his returns.
In 2012, then-Republican presidential Mitt Romney reluctantly released his returns.
But polls indicate voters rate Trump and Clinton about even on who can best inject new life into the US economy.
After a volatile week on the campaign trail, the Republican nominee hurled himself once again into the center of controversy, and the backlash has been swift and fierce from Democrats, gun control advocates, members of the media, and even some Republicans.
Hillary and Bill share a private moment on stage.
Clinton’s appearance followed Trump’s own speech on the economy, which he delivered in MI on Monday.
The latest planned release is seen as a prompt for Trump to release his tax returns as well.
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He also earned more than $17 million over the same period for consulting work for Laureate Education, Inc., another for-profit education system based in Baltimore that makes most of its profits from overseas operations. On Friday, his office confirmed that Clinton also halted his business dealings with GEMS Education previous year.
