Hillary Clinton slammed Donald Trump over his federal income taxes during the presidential debate Monday night, suggesting that the Republican nominee does not pay them.
Referring to himself, Trump suggested that it was “about time that this country had somebody running it who has some idea about money,” and said the U.S. needs better infrastructure development.
“We don’t have the money because it’s been squandered on your ideas,” Trump said to Clinton.
Clinton hit back with, “Maybe it’s because you haven’t paid any federal income tax for a lot of years.”
Earlier in the debate, Clinton suggested Trump has not released his tax returns because he doesn’t want Americans to know he didn’t pay federal income taxes.
“That makes me smart,” Trump retorted.
Trump has yet to release his tax returns, bucking a decades-old presidential tradition and prompting suggestions that he could be “hiding something.” He has repeatedly said he will release them after the IRS completes a “routine audit,” but the audit does not prevent him from releasing the returns. Clinton and her running mate, Tim Kaine, both released their tax returns in early August and have hit Trump over his failure to do the same. Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence, released a decade of his tax filings earlier this month.