Obamas Paid $1.8 Million in Taxes

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama released their joint income tax return on Tax Day, April 15, reporting adjusted gross income of $5.5 million, not including his Nobel Peace Prize winnings.

The vast majority of the family’s 2009 income came from proceeds of the sale of the president’s best-selling books, “The Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams from My Father.”

The Obamas paid $1.79 million in federal income tax and donated $329,100 to 40 different charities, including $50,000 to CARE, $50,000 to the United Negro College Fund, and $20,000 to the Boys and Girls Club. In addition, the president donated his $1.4 million Nobel Prize funds to 10 charities. The president and first lady also released their Illinois income tax return and reported paying $163,303 in state income taxes.

The Tax Code provides that if the recipient of the Nobel Prize directs the Nobel Committee to donate the prize income directly to charity, as the president did, the recipient does not have to recognize the prize as income on his federal income tax return. Obama is not permitted to take a charitable deduction on the value of the prize since it is not included in his income.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden also released their federal and state tax returns for Delaware and Virginia. They filed joint federal and Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident tax return for the State of Virginia. Together, they reported an adjusted gross income of $333,182. The Bidens paid $71,147 in federal income taxes for 2009. They paid $12,420 in Delaware income taxes and $1,477 in Virginia income taxes.

The Bidens contributed $4,820 to charity, in both monetary and in-kind donations. Cash contributions included $500 to the National Guard Summer Camp, $340 to Westminster Presbyterian, $300 to the Brain Tumor Association and $300 to the University of Pennsylvania. They also donated an estimated $900 worth of clothing, shoes, dishes, furniture and other household goods to Goodwill.

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