Bidens' Tax Return Is Out

President Biden and his wife, Jill, made $579,514 last year and paid $137,658 in federal income taxes. That works out to a 23.8% tax rate, more than the average of roughly 14% for all US households, the AP reports. The Bidens' earnings have trended slightly downward over the past three years, after averaging more than $600,000 in 2020 and 2021. The median US household income was $69,717 in 2021, according to the US Census Bureau. The White House on Tuesday released the tax returns of the Bidens and Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff. This once routine rite of passage for presidents and aspirants to the Oval Office became a source of controversy under Biden's predecessor, former President Trump, who declined to release his taxes and ultimately had six years' worth of returns released last year by a House committee.

The Bidens' income has dropped since 2019, 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. As president, Biden earned a salary of $400,000 last year. His wife, Jill, was paid $82,335 for her job teaching at Northern Virginia Community College. They paid state taxes of $29,023 in Delaware and $3,129 in Virginia. The Bidens gave $20,180 to 20 different charities. The largest gift was $5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, a nonprofit that works to combat child abuse and is named for their son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46. (More from their tax return, as well as the VP's, here.)