Bidens paid 24.6% taxes on $610,702 earnings, returns show

Apr 15, 2022, 9:24 PM | Updated: 9:32 pm
President Joe Biden speaks at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in Greens...

President Joe Biden speaks at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, in Greensboro, N.C., on April 14, 2022. Biden plans to nominate Michael Barr  to be the Federal Reserve's vice chairman of supervision. The selection of Barr comes after Biden's first choice for the Fed post, Sarah Bloom Raskin, withdrew her nomination a month ago (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, earned $610,702 during their first year in the White House and paid $150,439 in federal income taxes. That was a tax rate of 24.6% for 2021, well over the average of around 14% for all Americans.

The totals were similar to the Bidens’ 2020 returns, when they reported earning $607,336 as he ran for president. They reported a federal income tax rate of 25.9% then.

The national median household income was $67,521 in 2020, according to U.S. Census data.

It’s the second straight year Biden has released his tax returns from the White House, reestablishing a tradition that presidents make their filings public after President Donald Trump declined to do so.

Both this year and last were steep drops from 2019 for the Bidens, when they earned nearly $1 million, primarily from book sales, speeches and their teaching positions at the University of Pennsylvania and Northern Virginia Community College.

Jill Biden still teaches in Virginia while serving as first lady. The returns show Biden earning $378,333 as president — his $400,000 annual salary minus the time before noon on Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2021 — and his wife receiving $67,116 for her teaching.

The couple gave $17,394 to 10 different charities in 2021. The largest gift was $5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, a nonprofit that works to combat child abuse named for their son, Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

The Bidens also released their 2021 Delaware income tax return and reported paying $30,765 in state income tax there. The first lady released a Virginia return showing she paid $2,721 in Virginia state income tax.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, released their 2021 tax filings, which showed them earning $1,655,563 in 2021 and paying $523,371 — a federal income tax rate of 31.6%. Harris and Emhoff also paid $120,517 in California income tax and $2,044 in New York income tax.

The second gentleman, who teaches at Georgetown Law School, paid $54,441 in District of Columbia income tax, and the couple contributed $22,100 to charity in 2021.

Biden campaigned on the transparency of his personal finances, releasing 22 years of tax filings ahead of the 2020 election. It was a direct challenge to Trump, who argued for years that an audit prevented him from releasing his taxes — though the IRS had mandated for four-plus decades that the tax returns of sitting presidents and vice presidents be audited.

The New York Times later obtained Trump’s tax records and reported that he paid just $750 in federal income taxes during his first year in the White House. IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times what the former president paid.

The returns were released on April 15, traditionally the deadline for paying federal taxes. This year the deadline has been extended to Monday, April 18.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

(Facebook Photo/City of San Luis, Arizona)...
Associated Press

San Luis authorities receive complaints about 911 calls going across border

Authorities in San Luis say they are receiving more complaints about 911 calls mistakenly going across the border.
4 days ago
(Pexels Photo)...
Associated Press

Daylight saving time begins in most of US this weekend

No time change is observed in Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
12 days ago
Mexican army soldiers prepare a search mission for four U.S. citizens kidnapped by gunmen in Matamo...
Associated Press

How the 4 abducted Americans in Mexico were located

The anonymous tip that led Mexican authorities to a remote shack where four abducted Americans were held described armed men and blindfolds.
12 days ago
Tom Brundy points to a newly built irrigation canal on one of the fields at his farm Tuesday, Feb. ...
Associated Press

Southwest farmers reluctant to idle farmland to save water

There is a growing sense that fallowing will have to be part of the solution to the increasingly desperate drought in the West.
19 days ago
A young bison calf stands in a pond with its herd at Bull Hollow, Okla., on Sept. 27, 2022. The cal...
Associated Press

US aims to restore bison herds to Native American lands after near extinction

U.S. officials will work to restore more large bison herds to Native American lands under a Friday order from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
19 days ago
(Photo: OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center)...
Sponsored Content by OCD & Anxiety Treatment Center

Here's what you need to know about OCD and where to find help

It's fair to say that most people know what obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders generally are, but there's a lot more information than meets the eye about a mental health diagnosis that affects about one in every 100 adults in the United States.

Sponsored Articles

(Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona Photo)...
Desert Institute for Spine Care in Arizona

5 common causes for chronic neck pain

Neck pain can debilitate one’s daily routine, yet 80% of people experience it in their lives and 20%-50% deal with it annually.
...
Day & Night Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing

Prep the plumbing in your home just in time for the holidays

With the holidays approaching, it's important to know when your home is in need of heating and plumbing updates before more guests start to come around.
(Photo via MLB's Arizona Fall League / Twitter)...
Arizona Fall League

Top prospects to watch at this year’s Arizona Fall League

One of the most exciting elements of the MLB offseason is the Arizona Fall League, which began its 30th season Monday.
Bidens paid 24.6% taxes on $610,702 earnings, returns show