A New York Times report claimed Mr Trump paid around £578 in federal income tax the year he entered the White House and the issue took centre stage as he and Joe Biden faced off on Tuesday.
Moderator Chris Wallace asked the president when he would make personal taxes public as he has long promised.
Show us your tax returns, @realDonaldTrump.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 30, 2020
All presidents except Mr Trump have publicly released their taxes since the presidency of Richard Nixon.
Mr Trump has said since 2016 that he would eventually release them, but when asked by moderator Chris Wallace when this would take place, the republican replied: “You’ll get to see it.”
Mr Biden said: “Show us your taxes. Show us your taxes.”
The Democratic candidate used taxes as a point of attack, saying Mr Trump “does take advantage of the tax code” and “pays less tax than a schoolteacher”.
But Mr Trump shrugged off the attack, saying that all business leaders do the same “unless they are stupid”.
Ahead of the debate in Cleveland, Mr Biden and his wife Jill, released more of their personal tax returns.
The Bidens’ returns show the couple paid almost 300,000 dollars (£233,000) in federal taxes in 2019, including almost 288,000 dollars (£159,000) in personal income tax.
The Bidens reported taxable income of 944,737 dollars (£523,000).
