Fact-Check: No, Senator Clinton Did Not Vote for Significant Tax Reform

During the second presidential debate, Donald Trump claimed that during her time as Senator, Hillary Clinton did nothing to reform the tax code.

Fact-Check: MOSTLY TRUE

This is an extremely difficult statement to fact-check, because a great deal depends on what is meant by “reforming the tax code.” A thorough rundown of Clinton’s voting records on tax issues prepared by Forbes in April 2015 reveals little in Senator Clinton’s record that could be fairly described as a significant reform.

In summary, Clinton voted against the Bush tax cuts, but voted for a few amendments to the bill that did not pass; she eventually voted yes to extend those tax cuts, while complaining that she thought they benefited the wealthy too much. She voted in favor of a minor alteration to the Alternative Minimum Tax, to raise the exemption, while voting against a bill that would have repealed it, something that would have been a major tax reform. At the end of her term, she tried to raise the top marginal tax rate back to its pre-Bush level, which is hardly a “reform” of the system.