Joe Biden Releases Tax Returns Hours Before First Debate Against Trump

Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris released their tax returns after a bombshell report showed President Trump has been dodging paying his taxes for years.

Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden delivers a speech in Wilmington, Delaware on September 27, 2020 | Getty Images
Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden delivers a speech in Wilmington, Delaware on September 27, 2020 | Getty Images

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and running mate Sen. Kamala Harris released their 2019 tax returns on Tuesday after an explosive investigation found that President Donald Trump dodged paying federal taxes for years. 

Biden announced the release of tax returns from both him and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden. The documents show that the Bidens reported $944,737 of taxable income in 2019 and paid nearly $300,000 in federal income tax. 

“The American people deserve transparency from their leaders, it's why as of today, I've released 22 years of my tax returns,” Biden wrote in a tweet. 

On their campaign website, the Bidens have linked to their 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 tax returns. Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff’s 2019 tax returns are also available on the website.

On Sunday, the New York Times released a detailed report about Trump’s tax return history spanning more than two decades. In both 2016 and 2017, his first year as president, Trump paid only $750 annually in federal income tax, the Times reported. He also had no tax history across 10 of the previous 15 years and was reportedly “losing much more money than he made.”

Biden’s campaign released a video ad hours after the report dropped, showing how much more teachers, nurses, construction workers, and others paid in taxes compared to Trump’s reported returns. The campaign also created stickers on sale for $7.50 that say, “I paid more in taxes than Donald Trump.”

Biden’s tax return release Tuesday came hours before the first 2020 Presidential Debate. Biden and Trump will be face-to-face for the first time in the 2020 election cycle. The debate is set to start at 9 p.m. EST.