Wealth of Obams

[Riven37]

Obamas made $2.7 million last year
Published - Apr 15 2009 06:56PM EST
By SHARON THEIMER - Associated Press Writer

President Barack Obama, followed by taxpayers, waves as he arrives in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus in Washington, Wednesday, April 15, 2009, to make remarks about the tax code.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, millionaires from his best-selling books, made $2.7 million last year and paid just under one-third of their adjusted income in federal taxes.

While the income, mostly his, was far more than the U.S. median household income of about $50,000, it was quite a decrease from the $4.2 million the Obamas made in 2007.

Both years, nearly all of the earnings came from Obama's best-selling books. "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope" _ brought in about $2.5 million in royalties last year, according to copies of the returns released by the White House on Wednesday, the federal filing deadline.
Obama earned $139,204 as a Democratic senator from Illinois last year before leaving his seat after winning the November election. Michelle Obama received a salary of $62,709 from the University of Chicago Hospitals, where she was an executive.

The couple's total federal tax came to $855,323. That was 32 percent of their adjusted gross income of $2,656,902.

The Obamas overpaid by $26,014, and elected to apply that amount to their 2009 taxes.

The couple's federal tax deductions included about $50,000 in home mortgage interest.

They reported contributing $172,050 to charity last year, including $25,000 each to the CARE international relief agency and the United Negro College Fund. That $172,050 represented about 6.5 percent of the family's adjusted gross income. That percentage is roughly two to three times the national average for household donations to charity, according to the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The Obamas gave a total of $1,400 to five churches. In contrast to 2007, they gave nothing to the Trinity United Church of Christ. Barack Obama was a longtime member of the church, and gave it $26,270 in 2007, but resigned from it and cut ties with its pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, after Wright made incendiary comments that became a campaign issue.

The Obamas' total Illinois income tax was $78,765, their state return showed.
The White House also released Vice President Joe Biden's tax returns. Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $269,256 last year.

The Bidens' main sources of income were salaries from the Senate, Widener University, Delaware Technical & Community College and royalties from the audio rights to the vice president's memoir, "Promises to Keep."

According to tax returns released by the vice president's office, the Bidens paid $46,952 in federal income taxes and $11,164 in Delaware state income taxes. They donated $1,885 to charity.

Biden served in the Senate from 1973 until Jan. 15 of this year.
___
Associated Press writer Pete Yost contributed to this report.

[sneakers77]

Just for comparison to be fair and balanced..............



If liberals are going to show how in touch they are with normal Americans by demanding a Marxist revolution against the rich every time they control the government, how about taking a peek at the charitable giving of these champions of the little guy?


According to their tax returns, in 2006 and 2007, the Obamas gave 5.8 percent and 6.1 percent of their income to charity. I guess Michelle Obama has to draw the line someplace with all this "giving back" stuff. The Bidens gave 0.15 percent and 0.31 percent of the income to charity.


No wonder Obama doesn't see what the big fuss is over his decision to limit tax deductions for charitable giving. At least that part of Obama's tax plan won't affect his supporters.


Meanwhile, in 1991, 1992 and 1993, George W. Bush had incomes of $179,591, $212,313 and $610,772. His charitable contributions those years were $28,236, $31,914 and $31,292. During his presidency, Bush gave away more than 10 percent of his income each year.


For purposes of comparison, in 2005, Barack Obama made $1.7 million — more than twice President Bush's 2005 income of $735,180 — but they both gave about the same amount to charity.


That same year, the heartless Halliburton employee Vice President Dick Cheney gave 77 percent of his income to charity. The following year, in 2006, Bush gave more to charity than Obama on an income one-third smaller than Obama's. Maybe when Obama talks about "change" he's referring to his charitable contributions.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/col...ter031209.php3

[Ms.Depew.to.you]

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stori.../jackson.bush/

How Bush made millions before his presidency. In fact, he made more than Obama. Much more.

[FMD]

This is whats called a diversion.

Seriously. Giving to 'charity' as an elected official, is a publicity stunt. Pure and simple. Ya its good they did that, but realisticly, its to make people think they arnt as evil as they really are. Cause evil people NEVER give to charity

[Dougles]

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stori.../jackson.bush/

How Bush made millions before his presidency. In fact, he made more than Obama. Much more.

Yeah, but Bush never ran on the platform of being one of the guys, or being a "wroking man"

How can a man who make 2.6 Million who will NEVER go to a public hospital praise nationalized healthcare?

PS. where is JustKel and her partner on this issue? I thought they both said the RICH don't pay taxes? Or is Obama to dumb to get a good CPA????

32% was his effetive tax rate 32%!!!