Hillary Clinton would save about $1.7 million a year under Donald Trump's tax plan

Hillary Clinton wants to raise her own taxes
(Image credit: Mark Makela/Getty Images)

You may or may not agree with Hillary Clinton's tax proposals, but they're clearly not self-serving. Under the policies she supports, Lynnley Browning at Bloomberg News estimates, Clinton and husband Bill Clinton would have paid at least $224,000 more in 2015, based on the tax returns Clinton's presidential campaign released last week. Under Donald Trump's proposed tax overhaul, on the other hand, the Clintons would have saved an estimated $1.7 million last year, Browning says. A group of accountants and tax specialists signed off on those numbers as realistic and likely in the right ballpark.

With their reported 2015 adjusted gross income of $10.6 million, the Clintons would have seen their effective tax rate of 34.2 percent (or $3.2 million in income tax) cut down to close to Trump's proposed 15 percent rate for individuals' business income. Since Trump has not released any of his tax returns, it is impossible to know how the dueling tax plans would help or hurt him. He would certainly get a tax cut under his own plan — if he pays any federal income tax at all; he has paid $0 before and may still — and would pay more under Clinton's proposals. You can see how Browning arrives at her numbers at Bloomberg News.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.