Paul: Why isn’t Sanders paying a higher tax rate?

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Wednesday attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) for his tax rate, arguing that the self-described democratic socialist should want to pay more of his income.

One day after the leak of a portion of President Trump’s tax returns from 2005, Paul sought to turn the tables on the president’s critics, questioning why Trump paid a higher rate than Sanders.

“Since Sen. Sanders is such a good socialist, I think he’d want to pay his fair share,” he told host Bill Hemmer on Fox News.

“I’m expecting news any day that he’s going to send a couple hundred thousand into the IRS so he can pay his fair share.”

{mosads}Trump paid a 25.3 percent tax rate in 2005, according to Fox News. 

Sanders paid a 13.5 percent rate in his 2014 taxes, and President Obama paid 18.7 percent in 2015.

The White House late Tuesday released some details of Trump’s income and taxes he paid in 2005, after MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow teased that she acquired Trump’s taxes from that year and would publish them on-air.

Trump reported $150 million in income and paid $38 million in taxes, the White House said in a statement.

Maddow extensively covered two pages of Trump’s 2005 returns obtained by a Pulitzer Prize-winning guest on her broadcast Tuesday.

Paul said someone might have committed a crime by publicly exposing parts of Trump’s 2005 returns.

“I think it’s important — and you can’t say enough — that someone broke the law and probably committed a felony to reveal someone’s tax returns.”