Bill and Hillary Clinton made $10,594,529 in adjusted gross income in 2015, according to tax returns released by the campaign Friday.
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“Here’s a pretty incredible fact: there is a non-zero chance that Donald Trump isn’t paying *any* taxes”, Ms Clinton tweeted, minutes after releasing her own returns.
Departing from 40 years of tradition for presidential candidates, Trump has so far refused to release any of his tax returns for public inspection.
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.
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. Every major-party nominee since the late 1970s has released tax returns before Election Day.
But aside from their earnings, the latest showing by the Democratic candidates was meant to put a spotlight on Trump’s failure to release his returns.
In 2015, Clinton paid a federal tax rate of 34.2% and a NY state rate of 9% for a total effective tax rate of 43.2%. Taking into account their state and local taxes, the Clintons had a total effective tax rate of more than 43 percent in 2015.
Over the course of their careers the Clintons have published all of their tax returns since 1977 – Democrats repeatedly point to this as evidence of transparency on the part of the power couple.
The Clintons’ 2015 return showed that, unlike most Americans, just $100 of their income came from wages.
When asked about his taxes at the time, Nixon willingly released the returns that had been under audit: “I welcome this kind of examination, because people have got to know whether or not their president is a crook”.
In recent months, news organisations have unearthed public records that give a glimpse of what Trump paid in income taxes for eight out of the last 41 years.
The video lists some possible reasons for the delay, without offering proof, including that Trump may not have paid as much in tax or given away as much in charity as he has claimed.
With Friday’s release, Clinton has now made available during the campaign her and her husband’s income taxes dating to 2007, showing a total adjusted gross income during that period of $US150 million.
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Mrs 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. Hillary also made $3 million in proceeds from her book Hard Choices. A lower income would undermine his image as a successful businessman. The Clintons made about 90 times more, reporting almost $28 million for the same year.
