US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden have marked the traditional 15 April deadline for Americans to file their federal income tax returns by releasing a copy of their own.
“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 on Friday.
The release of the Bidens’ tax returns marked the second year in a row that the president and first lady have put their tax documents in the public record since moving into the White House, returning to a practice dating back to the post-Watergate era which lapsed under Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, who never released a single year of tax returns during his four years in office while falsely claiming he could not because they were under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
According to tax returns obtained and released by The New York Times, Mr Trump only paid $750 in income taxes during each of his first two years in the White House.
That’s far less than the taxes paid by Mr Biden, who earned $378,333 from Defence Finance and Accounting Services — an amount representing the president’s yearly salary minus the 20 days in January 2021 before he took office — and Ms Biden, who earned $67,116 as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
In addition to Mr Biden’s and Ms Biden’s salaries, the first couple also reported $61,995 in income from two “S-Corporations,” Giacoppa Corp and CelticCapri Corp, the latter of which is named from a combination of Mr and Ms Biden’s Secret Service code names, as well as a $966 distribution from a Wells Fargo retirement account, $954 from a TIAA retirement account, and $33,958 and $22,540 from two pensions from the US Office of Personnel Management and Delaware Office of Pensions.
Combined, the Bidens reported a total of $610,702 in gross income on their joint tax return, $150,439 of which was returned to Mr Biden’s employer in the form of tax payments.
