WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on Thursday reported earning $5.5 million last year, with the majority of it from the sale of the president’s books.
The first couple also paid $1.792 million in federal income taxes, according to their federal tax return released Thursday by the White House.
The Obamas reported donating $329,100 to 40 charities, the largest donations of $50,000 going to CARE and the United Negro College Fund. The president, who last year won the Nobel Prize for Peace, also donated the $1.4 million in proceeds from the prize to 10 charities.
The president did not claim the prize money or the charitable donation on his taxes because the Internal Revenue Code says “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.” But he can’t claim the charitable donation on his taxes as a deduction, either.
The first couple also reported paying $163,303 in Illinois income taxes.
Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, reported an adjusted gross income of $333,182 on their tax return. The Bidens paid $71,147 in federal income taxes. They paid $12,420 in Delaware income taxes and $1,477 in Virginia income taxes. The Bidens contributed $4,820 to charity in monetary and in-kind donations.
