Klobuchar releases 2018 tax return ahead of Trump’s visit to Minnesota

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has released her 2018 tax return ahead of President Trump’s visit to her home state.

Klobuchar, who has entered the 2020 presidential race, had previously released her tax returns for 2006 though 2017. The deadline to file 2018 tax returns is Monday.

{mosads}This is the first year that people are filing tax returns that reflect Trump’s 2017 tax cut law, and Trump is visiting Minnesota on Monday to tout the measure.

In advance of Trump’s visit, Klobuchar held an event on Sunday where she criticized the law for adding to the national debt and said it provided a disproportionate benefit to the wealthy.

She also released a video in which she said she hoped Trump was coming to Minnesota to release his tax returns.

Trump is the first president in decades to refuse to release his returns, citing an IRS audit, though the IRS says that audits don’t prevent people from releasing their own tax information.

Klobuchar’s 2018 return — which she filed jointly with her husband John Bessler — shows total income and adjusted gross income of about $338,000 and total tax of nearly $66,000. They had an effective tax rate of 19.5 percent.

Klobuchar appears to have gotten a tax cut under Trump’s 2017 law, according to the recently released tax returns.

Klobuchar and her husband had more income in 2018 than they did in 2017 but had a lower effective tax rate in 2018. Their effective tax rate in 2017 was 21.5 percent.

The tax law increased the size of the standard deduction, capped the state and local tax deduction at $10,000, and eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed business expenses.

As a result, Klobuchar and her husband went from claiming about $47,000 in itemized deductions in 2017 to claiming a standard deduction of $24,000 for 2018.

But Klobuchar and her husband also did not have to pay the alternative minimum tax (AMT) in 2018, while they paid about $8,400 in AMT in 2017.

The AMT disallows state and local tax deductions, and Trump’s tax law increased the AMT exemption amounts.

Klobuchar is one of several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates to release their tax returns in recent days.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) have also released their tax documents, as has Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D)

Additionally, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is expected to release his returns on Monday.