2020 roundup: Gillibrand releases 2018 tax returns
WASHINGTON — New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand released 12 years of her tax returns on Wednesday and put pressure on her fellow 2020 presidential hopefuls to follow suit.
Gillibrand is the first candidate to release her 2018 returns, although Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has released her 10 previous years of tax returns last year. Tax returns for 2018 aren't due to federal and state governments until mid-April.
The New York senator and her husband earned $214,000 in 2018 and paid an effective federal tax rate of 13.6 percent.
Gillibrand has made transparency a central theme of her campaign and her senate career. A campaign aide told NBC News her disclosure is not only about putting pressure on other candidates, but is intended to continue highlighting her contrast with President Trump.
Trump has refused to disclose any of his tax returns, previously saying his filings were under audit, the first presidential nominee from a major party to decline to disclose returns in decades.
On the Democratic side, a handful of candidates still haven't disclosed much tax information either. One notable example is Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who did not release his returns while running in 2016. Sanders pledged that he would release 10 years worth of his returns "soon" during a CNN town hall last month, but has not yet done so.
Read more analysis of Gillibrand's returns from the New York Times, and read on for the latest from the trail.
- Click here to read Warren's new policy proposals on agriculture aimed at "leveling the playing field" for family farmers competing against agribusiness.
- A handful of top Democratic candidates are headed to Las Vegas in late April for a labor forum. Nevada's unions are a key political force in both the primary and general elections.
- NBC's Garrett Haake and Kailani Koenig took a look at former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke's recent trip to South Carolina where he sought to introduce himself to black voters who he'll need if he wants to win the Democratic presidential nomination.