Well, it’s April 15, and the returns are in—the presidential ones, that is. Barack and Michelle Obama and Joe and Jill Biden have filed their taxes and released, for public speculation, their accounting. The skinny: The Obamas made an adjusted gross income of $2,656,902 and paid $855,323 in federal income tax and $77,883 in state income taxes. The Bidens made just about one tenth of that: $269,256 before tax.
So the president is rich!—no surprise. But good for the first family for donating about $172,000 to 37 different charities, including CARE and the United Negro College Fund.
Perhaps the most interesting part is that both Obama and Biden paid taxes on royalties from their side gigs as authors. In fact, most of the Obamas’ 2008 income came from sales of the “Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams From My Father.” Biden raked in a few thousand for the audio recording of his memoir (which I had to look up), “Promises to Keep.” We can’t all be bestsellers.
See the Obamas’ 1040 form here (PDF). And the Bidens’ here (PDF).
—DAYO OLOPADE
Covers the White House and Washington for The Root. Follow her on Twitter.