WASHINGTON: Hillary and Bill Clinton earned $10.6 million last year, according to a tax filing released by her campaign Friday that sought to pressure presidential rival Donald Trump to disclose his tax returns.
The filing shows that the Clintons paid a federal tax rate of 34.2 percent in 2015. The bulk of their income — more than $6 million — came from speaking fees for appearances made largely before Hillary Clinton launched her campaign in April 2015. They gave more than $1,042,000 to charity, with $1 million going to the Clinton family foundation. That is the financial vehicle the family uses to give money to museums, schools, churches and other charitable causes. It is not the same organization as the better-known Clinton Foundation.
The Clintons’ income puts them well within the ranks of the top 0.1 percent of Americans, though they pay a higher tax rate than many of their elite peers, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, based on 2013 data.
The release is part of an effort to undercut Trump’s character by questioning the celebrity businessman’s record. Trump has refused to make his filings public, saying they’re under audit by the Internal Revenue Service and he’ll release them only once that review is complete. All major U.S. presidential candidates in modern history have released their returns.
Trump steered clear of mentioning his personal taxes Friday. A spokesman pointed to Clinton’s move to delete tens of thousands of personal emails from her private account as secretary of state and questions about whether she used her government post to benefit the Clinton Foundation.
“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.
The Clintons have disclosed tax returns for every year since 1977, in part due to laws requiring public officials to release returns. She put out her most recent eight years of tax filings last summer and several years during her first presidential bid.
Seeking common ground with blue-collar workers who have been attracted to Trump, Clinton frequently mentions his returns as a way of underscoring how his economic plans would benefit his personal interests and questioning whether he’s as wealthy as he claims.
Democrats believe Trump’s returns could be a trove of politically damaging information. They want to see his tax rate, charitable giving, and business dealings with foreign governments.
“Here’s a pretty incredible fact: There is a non-zero chance that Donald Trump isn’t paying *any* taxes,” Clinton tweeted, after releasing her own returns.
Clinton’s campaign also released 10 years of returns from running mate Tim Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton. Over the last decade, the couple has donated 7.5 percent of their income to charity, the campaign said, and paid an effective tax rate of 25.6 percent last year.
Kaine, the Virginia senator who’s spent much of his life in public service, reported a far lower income than the Clintons. Over the past decade, he and his wife earned the most in 2014, more than $314,000 in adjusted gross income. The Clintons made about 90 times more, reporting nearly $28 million for the same year.
Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, has yet to say if he will release his taxes, which he has not done as governor of Indiana.