Clinton releases tax records, puts pressure on Trump

On August 12, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton officially released her 2015 income and tax records, thereby putting pressure on her Republican opponent Donald Trump to do the same.

The battle between the two candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is increasingly fierce.

According to documents published on the campaign website of the former US Secretary of State, the total income of Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in 2015 was 10.75 million USD, of which the majority of the money was earned from speaking and writing books.

Last year, former President Clinton earned nearly $5.3 million from speaking engagements; Mrs. Clinton earned $3 million from the publication of a book about her time as secretary of state. The Clintons’ income tax rate is 34.2 percent, and together they paid $3.6 million in federal income taxes last year.

Similarly, Democratic candidate Tim Kaine and his wife for Vice President, also publicly disclosed their tax records for the past 10 years, in which both paid a tax rate of 20.3%.

In a statement, Clinton campaign assistant Jenifer Palmieri said that former US Secretary of State and Senator Kaine have demonstrated financial transparency, while Mr. Trump has refused to disclose his tax income as promised and is still hiding behind excuses.

In response, billionaire Trump's campaign team said that Mrs. Clinton's purpose in releasing the above document was to distract public attention from the scandal of the former US Secretary of State's use of personal email to handle public affairs.

Although not mandatory, it has become customary for US presidential candidates to publicly disclose their taxable income. Since 1977, the Clintons have always disclosed their income and taxes. In contrast, billionaire Trump has kept his income and tax records secret, arguing that the US Internal Revenue Service is auditing his tax records and cannot disclose them.

However, in a report published the same day, The New York Times said that Mr. Trump may have benefited from tax incentives for real estate developers in previous years, such as 1978 and 1979 when the billionaire did not have to pay federal income tax./.

According to Vietnam+