Biden, first lady report making over $600,000 in 2021 tax filing

[April 18, 2022]  By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Joe Biden and his wife Jill released their federal tax returns on Friday, showing the couple earned more than $600,000 last year and paid an effective federal income tax rate of 24.6%.

The Bidens also donated roughly 2.8% of their income, or $17,384, to charities, including $5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, which works to prevent child abuse. Beau Biden, the president's son, died of cancer in 2015.

The tradition of presidents making their federal tax returns public was broken by Biden's predecessor, former President Donald Trump. Trump said he was not able to do so while being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, even as the agency claimed he was free to release them.

The Bidens reported federal adjusted gross income of $610,702 and paid $150,439 in federal income tax. The previous year, when Biden was running for president, they reported $607,336 in income.

Biden earned $378,333 with his presidential salary, slightly below what would normally be $400,000 in pay because he entered office on Jan. 20. Jill Biden earned $67,116 from her job teaching at Northern Virginia Community College.

The couple earned $103,258 in taxable interest, pensions, annuities, IRA distributions, and Social Security benefits as well as $61,995 in book royalties.

"With this release, the president has shared a total of 24 years of tax returns with the American public, once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people about the finances of the commander in chief," the White House said in a statement.

U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden disembark from Air Force One as they arrive at RAF Mildenhall ahead of the G7 Summit, near Mildenhall, Britain June 9, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, reported federal adjusted gross income of $1,655,563, the White House said, paying $523,371 in federal income tax for an effective federal income tax rate of 31.6%.

Emhoff stepped down from his law firm in 2021 and the firm is paying back his partnership stake over a number of years, a White House spokesperson said.

Last year he received $582,543 from his law firms DLA Piper, which he left last year, and Venable, which he left in 2017.

Harris' book sales increased in 2021 and she made a net profit of $386,713 on those.

Emhoff, who teaches at Georgetown Law, and Harris made $380,288 in combined wages and roughly $319,000 in a gain on the sale of their house in San Francisco.

They contributed roughly 1.3% of their income, or $22,100, to charity, according to the information from the White House.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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