Joe, Jill Biden release tax return, showing US$579,514 in income
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AMERICA’S first couple didn’t do too badly last year, earning US$579,514, although this was a good chunk less than the previous year, according to Joe and Jill Biden’s tax return, made public on Tuesday.
Biden has restored a custom designed to demonstrate transparency at the White House, the most notable exception to the unwritten rule being his predecessor Donald Trump who consistently refused to release his annual income and tax report.
The president and first lady’s joint return showed gross income of nearly US$580,000 in 2022, which was US$30,000 less than in the previous year’s filing. Most of that income came from Biden’s standard presidential salary of US$400,000, which is set by Congress.
Jill Biden, who teaches at Northern Virginia Community College and is the first presidential spouse to continue an outside paid job, earned US$82,335.
They paid a federal tax rate of 23.8 per cent, a notch down from last year’s 24.6 per cent, resulting in US$137,658 in federal income tax.
They also paid US$29,023 in income tax in their home state of Delaware, while the first lady paid US$3,139 in Virginia income tax.
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Donating more than US$20,000 to charities, their biggest contribution was US$5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, a charity combating child abuse and named after their son, who died in 2015.
The White House said that Biden has now made public 25 years of his tax returns, “once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the commander-in-chief.”
The Biden White House’s tax transparency is in stark contrast to the Trump era.
The lifelong businessman refused both as a candidate and once in office to allow the public to see his tax return, a document detailing all sources and amounts of income, among other financial records.
When several years of his returns were finally made public after a legal battle waged by Democrats in Congress, it emerged Trump was paying almost no income tax, due to business losses.
Vice-President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff reported in their tax returns a gross income of US$456,918 and paying US$93,570 in federal income tax, as well as US$17,612 in income tax in their home state of California. AFP
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