Biden and Harris release 2019 tax returns ahead of first debate

Washington — Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Senator Kamala Harris released their 2019 tax returns ahead of the first presidential debate on Tuesday, drawing attention to a New York Times report revealing that President Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2017, the year he entered the White House.

Biden’s tax return shows that he and his wife, Jill, earned $944,737 in taxable wages in 2019 and paid $299,346 in total taxes, a rate of 31.6%. Biden listed his occupation as “executive,” and Jill Biden wrote that she was a “teacher.” Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, earned $3,018,127 in taxable income and paid $1,185,628 in total taxes, a rate of 39.2%, according to her return. Harris and Emhoff owed $432,205 in taxes, while the Bidens got a $46,858 refund.

Biden has released 22 years of tax returns, and Harris has released 15 years, according to the campaign. Mr. Trump has not released any of her tax returns to the public, citing a years-long IRS audit. Individuals under audit are not prohibited from releasing their tax returns.

In its blockbuster report over the weekend, the Times said it obtained years of the president’s tax records showing that he paid no income taxes in 10 of the 15 years prior to 2016. In 2016, the year he was elected, he paid $750 in federal income taxes, the Times said, and paid the same amount the following year. Mr. Trump insisted the report was “totally fake news.”

In a press call with reporters on Tuesday ahead of the debate, Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield said that the Times’ reporting “reinforces what we already knew about Donald Trump.” Biden is expected to bring up the Times’ reporting in the debate on Tuesday evening.

Bo Erickson contributed reporting.