Obamas Pay $93,362 in Federal Taxes for 2014 Income; Gave $70k to Charities
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, paid $93,362 in federal taxes last year with an earning of $477,383, which is a lower income than in the past few years due to a decline in the sales of the president's biographies. They gave $70,712 to 33 charities.
The Obamas paid taxes at an effective rate of 19.6 percent, according to 2014 tax returns released by the White House, The Associated Press reports.
"In January 2013, the President signed into law legislation that extended tax cuts to middle-class and working families and helped improve the country's fiscal health by asking the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest wrote on the White House blog. "In 2014, as a result of his policies, the President was subject to limitations in tax preferences for high-income earners, as well as additional Medicare and investment income taxes."
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Obama is paid $400,000 for his position as the president, but he also earned from publishers Dystel and Goderich and Random House, and interest.
The president and his wife gave $70,712 to 33 charities, and their largest gift of $22,012 went to Fisher House Foundation, which houses military families while a relative receives treatment, according to Reuters.
Obama received $51,167 from Random House and $43,722 from Dystel & Goderich, according to tax returns.
They claimed nearly $160,000 in itemized deductions.
The Obamas made $94,889 from the sale of Obama's books, down from more than $116,000 the previous year.
"While we've made progress in ensuring that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share by raising their tax rate to the level it was under President Clinton, there is more work to do," Earnest wrote. "We need to close special tax loopholes for millionaires and billionaires, and invest in the middle class. The tax policies proposed in the President's Budget would make paychecks go further in covering the cost of child care, college, and a secure retirement, and would create and expand tax credits that support and reward work."
In 2013, the Obamas earned $503,183, and $662,076 in the previous year.
In 2009, after Obama's election as president, his earning shot to $5.5 million, including from book sales and the Nobel Peace Prize.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill paid more than $90,000 in federal taxes in 2014, according to their tax returns, which were also released by the White House.
Their adjusted gross income was nearly $389,000, and they paid an effective federal income tax rate of 23.3 percent. They paid $7,380 in donations to charity.
