Former Vice President Joe Biden released his 2019 tax returns and put them online showing he paid $300,000 in federal taxes hours before his first debate with President Donald Trump. The comes amid a bombshell report from the New York Times that found Trump didn’t pay any federal taxes for 10 years and paid $750 in 2016 and 2017. Trump has refused to release his tax returns.
The Wall Street Journal:
Former Vice President Joe Biden released his 2019 tax returns Tuesday, showing that he paid nearly $300,000 in federal taxes, seeking to draw a contrast with President Trump in the hours before their first debate.
Mr. Biden and his wife, Jill, reported receiving $985,233 in adjusted gross income in 2019, a year in which he was mostly running for president. Their tax rate was 29.5%, and their income means they would likely be subject to several of the tax increases Mr. Biden is proposing.
Mr. Trump, meanwhile, has refused to release any of his tax returns, breaking a 40-year tradition of major-party candidates and presidents. The New York Times reported Sunday that Mr. Trump hasn’t paid federal income taxes in many recent years and paid just $750 for 2016 and the same amount for 2017. Mr. Trump has dismissed the Times’ reporting as inaccurate but has declined to specify any errors.
The Times report detailed a series of questionable transactions by Mr. Trump, including deductions for hair styling, claims of large losses and consulting payments to his daughter, Ivanka Trump. The president has said he is still being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.
The IRS said Tuesday that it had assessed its taxpayer-privacy protections and special safeguards for certain taxpayers and found no issues. The agency also said, however, that it was asking its inspector general to assess the agency’s practices “in an abundance of caution.”
Mr. Biden’s campaign said the latest release means he has now released 22 years of tax records, covering years when he served in the Senate representing Delaware, as vice president and his time after he left the Obama administration.
“This is a historic level of transparency meant to give the American people faith once again that their leaders will look out for them and not their own bottom line,” said Kate Bedingfield, Mr. Biden’s deputy campaign manager.
This means Trump will have to offer a longer take on his taxes than he has already during the debate. It will eat up some of his time and any answer he gives will come under closer scrutiny.
Years of tax returns released:
Biden: 22
Trump: 0
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 29, 2020
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.