Indiana Gov. Mike Pence promised this weekend that both he and Donald Trump would soon release their tax returns, pledging a major shift for the GOP nominee who has up until this announcement refused to make his tax information public.
“Donald Trump and I are both going to release our tax returns. I’ll release mine in the next week,” the vice presidential candidate said in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
However, the Indiana governor declined to say when voters should expect to see Trump’s returns. Pence wouldn’t even say if it would be before the November election.
“Well, we’ll see,” he said.
Trump has been hit from all sides for refusing to release his tax information, and the Clinton campaign has wasted no time taking capitalizing on the situation.
Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., has criticized Trump repeatedly for not releasing his taxes, and has suggested on a number of occasions that the Republican candidate is likely trying to hide something.
“What doesn’t he want to show?” Kaine asked an audience in early August. “You know, he brags about all this stuff he’s done for charity, but there’s been some good articles to suggest that’s all brags, and it’s not really backed up.”
The Democratic presidential candidate released her 2015 returns earlier this month, and challenged Trump to do the same.
Clinton’s tax filings showed her family paid an effective federal tax rate of 34.2 percent in 2015. The same tax returns also showed Bill and Hillary Clinton’s adjusted gross income last year was $10.6 million.
The Clintons have released tax filings dating back as far as 1977. Kaine and his wife this year released 10 years’ worth of tax returns.
Trump has refused all throughout the 2016 election cycle to release his tax information, and he has avoided doing so by issuing a number of excuses, including that he is under audit and that there is “nothing to learn from them.”
Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns has drawn criticism not just from Democrats, but also from conservatives, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and political analyst George Will, who’ve suggested the GOP nominee has something to hide.
Though Pence wouldn’t give a timeline on when voters should expect Trump to make his financial information publicly available, the Indiana governor did promise it’d come sometime after Trump’s supposed audit.
“Donald Trump will be releasing his tax returns at the completion of an audit,” he said.
Pence released his Federal Election Commission filings last month, which showed he earned $173,860 as governor since the beginning of 2015.
“Our family has been honored to serve our state and nation. Like many American families, we have been fortunate and blessed to raise three wonderful children and put them through college while doing work that we love,” Trump’s running mate said at the time.
