Hillary Clinton on Thursday doubled down on her claim that Donald Trump has paid no federal taxes in recent years, telling an Iowa crowd that her Republican foe sets a poor example for the rest of the country.
Mrs. Clinton’s assertion about Mr. Trump’s finances stems from Monday night’s presidential debate, in which the billionaire businessman said it would make him “smart” to avoid paying taxes. He continues to refuse to release his tax returns, blaming an ongoing IRS audit.
But the Clinton campaign has begun pushing the idea that the real reason Mr. Trump won’t release the documents is because they’ll prove he isn’t as wealthy as he claims, and that he’s taken advantage of tax loopholes unavailable to average Americans.
“He actually bragged about gaming the system to get out of paying his fair share of taxes, maybe not paying any taxes at all,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It’s probably true that he hasn’t paid a penny in federal taxes.”
The former first lady went on to say that she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have been happy to pay their fair share of taxes.
“My husband and I have put 40 years of our tax returns out into the public. You can go and look at them, and you can see that we’ve been blessed,” she said. “We’re grateful for that, but we have paid the highest marginal tax rates and we are glad we could because we have both benefited from this great country of ours and we want to pass that on to the next generation, and the one after that.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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