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Joe Biden speaking in Wilmington, Delaware
Photo: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS
A few hours before the first TV duel in the US presidential election campaign, the Democratic challenger Joe Biden fueled the controversy over the finances of incumbent Donald Trump.
Biden and his candidate for the office of Vice President, Kamala Harris, published their tax returns for 2019 on Tuesday. The Democratic campaign team asked Trump to follow suit with his own statement.
Contrary to the conventions of US politics, the Republican has kept his documents under lock and key for years.
Most recently, the issue had come to the fore in the election campaign after the New York Times reported that Trump had paid little or no federal taxes in recent years.
Joe Biden and his wife Jill's statement indicates that they have paid more than $ 346,000 in taxes and other payments to the federal government for the past year.
The combined annual income was therefore almost $ 985,000.
The Bidens requested a return of nearly $ 47,000, which they said they would have paid too much.
According to the New York Times, Trump paid no federal taxes in ten of the 15 years up to 2017.
His corresponding burden in 2016 and 2017 was $ 750 each.
Trump has rejected the account, saying that he has paid "many millions of dollars in taxes".
In the United States, federal and state taxes are collected separately.
The vice-head of Biden's campaign team, Kate Bedingfield, called the publication of the documents on Tuesday a historic step that should restore the Americans' faith in the political leadership.
"Mr. President, publish your tax return or shut up," she told journalists.
A statement from the Republicans was initially not available.
There were already irritations before the TV duel.
According to Biden's campaign team, the Republican opposing side asked the moderator of the debate not to mention the number of deaths from the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.
The US disease authorities CDC currently put them at 204,598.
Trump's team rejected the Democrats' claim.
That was "a lie and never happened," said a spokesman.
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pro / dpa / Reuters
