U.S. Dmocratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on Friday released her 2015 tax returns and stepped up pressure on her Republican opponent Donald Trump to make his tax returns public.
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The filing shows that the Clintons paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 per cent.
“Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine continue to set the standard for financial transparency”, Clinton campaign aide Jennifer Palmieri said in a statement.
“In stark contrast, Donald Trump is hiding behind fake excuses and backtracking on his previous promise to release his tax returns”.
Clinton has been highly critical of Trump for his failure to disclose personal financial information, hinting it is because he does not pay a very high percentage of his income in taxes and that he may not be as wealthy as he says he is.
Mr Trump has cited an ongoing audit by the Internal Revenue Service, though the agency has said he is free to release his returns while under audit, as President Richard Nixon once did.
Daniel Shaviro, professor of New York University Law School, told National Public Radio that Trump’s lawyer may have advised him not to release the returns until the audit is over.
It is customary for US presidential candidates to make their tax returns public, although they are not required by law to do so.
Pursuing a return to public service came at a cost to Hillary and Bill Clinton, as their considerable joint income dropped by almost two-thirds past year when the former secretary of state began her run for president.
The pair donated 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity over the course of the past 10 years.
The Clintons had a total income in 2015 of about $10.7 million.
Hillary and Bill share a private moment on stage. The Clintons paid $43.9 million in federal taxes over those years – an average tax rate that works out to 31.6 percent. “What is he trying to hide?”
The Clintons’ 2015 return showed that, unlike most Americans, just $100 of their income came from wages. Their income came from sources that included the couple’s books and speeches as well as Bill Clinton’s consulting work.
Hillary Clinton attends a campaign rally in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday.
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They have collected tens of millions of dollars in fees for speeches, including some delivered overseas and others sponsored by financial institutions.
