The Obamas Release Their Tax Return
President Obama and his wife Michelle Obama released their 2008 federal tax return on Wednesday, showing that they paid $855, 323 in taxes on a combined household income of $2, 656, 902.
The couple also reported giving $172, 050 — nearly 6.5 percent of their earnings — to 37 charities, including $25, 000 contributions to CARE, a global anti-poverty group, and the United Negro College Fund.
The White House also released the tax return for Vice President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden.
They reported an adjusted gross income of $269, 256 and paid $46, 952 in federal income taxes.
The Bidens also reported donating $1, 885 to charity – less than one percent of earnings.
In a press release, the Obama administration said that the Bidens have made additional donations to charity that they did not claim on their tax returns.
For the fourth year in a row, the Obamas’ personal wealth rose sharply due almost entirely to royalties from two books – “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” Proceeds from book sales earned more than $2.4 million in 2008.
The disclosure added a new volume to a portrait of rapidly mounting wealth.
The Obamas first opened a window on their personal finances in March 2008, when they released seven years of their tax returns amid Mr. Obama’s effort to secure the Democratic presidential nomination.
The forms showed that the couple’s income spiked dramatically in 2005, largely due to book sales following his rise to fame with a speech as a Senate candidate at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
From 2000 to 2004, they earned about $250, 000 a year. But in 2005, their taxable income surged to $1.6 million in 2005 and $983, 826 in 2006. In 2007 – after book sales spiked again amid the first year of his presidential campaign – they earned $4.2 million.
Since then, sales have slowed somewhat, but remain lucrative, the new forms show.
The 2008 tax return did not include income Mr. Obama will receive from a new book deal he signed in early January, just before taking office.
The deal, revealed in a routine Senate filing last month, will pay him $250, 000 for an adaptation of his memoir for younger readers.
The Senate filing also first disclosed his 2008 book royalty income.
Source: The New York Time
