The 2021 federal income tax returns for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, as well as their spouses, were revealed by the White House on Friday. According to a tax analysis, Harris and the Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff donated less than half the average charity for earners at their level of wealth.
President Biden and First Lady Jill Biden reported a federal adjusted gross income of $610,702 last year, according to their 2021 federal income tax returns. The Bidens filed their income tax return jointly. The first couple made $607,336 in 2020, and $985,223 in 2019.
The New York Post reported, “Between 2017 and 2019, in between his time as vice president and president, Biden earned more than $16.5 million, including large payouts for speaking at colleges and elsewhere. He earned almost $1 million from the University of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2019, previous filings show.”
The Bidens paid $150,439 in federal taxes at a federal income tax rate of 24.6%. The average individual income tax rate was 13.29%% in 2019, according to the Tax Foundation.
They also paid $30,765 in their home state of Delaware, according to a copy of their joint return. Jill Biden paid $2,721 in Virginia taxes because she teaches at Northern Virginia Community College.
The Bidens gave $17,394 to charitable causes in 2021 – which is about 2.8%. The average charitable deduction for individuals earning between $500,000 and $2 million is 3.1% of adjusted gross income, according to 2016 tax information from the Tax Foundation. Those earning between $100,000 and $500,000 donate 2.9%.
When Biden was running for president in 2020, the Bidens gave $30,704 in charitable donations – which amounted to approximately 5% of their income.
ABC News reported that the Bidens donated $995 to charity in 2007 – which is about 0.3% of their income. In 1999, the Bidens gave $120 to charity. The article published in 2008 stated, “Over the decade, the Bidens reported a total of $3,690 in charitable donations, or 0.2% of their income.”
The Bidens donated to 10 charities in 2021, and the largest gift – $5,000 – was sent to Beau Biden Foundation. The mission of the organization honoring the president’s late son is to prevent child abuse “through effectively educating adults and children, developing the next generation of child welfare professionals, and strengthening child protection laws around the country.”
Harris and Emhoff reported a federal adjusted gross income of $1,655,563, according to the White House. Harris reported income from sales of her book “The Truths We Hold” and from the sale of the couple’s property in San Francisco.
Their returns show the second couple paid $523,371 in federal income tax at a federal income tax rate of 31.6% in 2021. Harris and Emoff paid $120,517 in California income tax and $2,044 in New York. Emhoff paid $54,441 in District of Columbia income taxes because he teaches at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and earned $164,740 in 2021. Emhoff also reported making a salary of $582,543 as a lawyer at the law firms DLA Piper and Venable – which he left in 2021.
The tax filing shows that Harris and Emhoff donated $22,100 to charity in 2021, including $5,000 each to Howard University and the University of Southern California — where Harris went to college and Emhoff attended law school, respectively. The donations equal 1.3% of their total income.
“On average, taxpayers making between $500,000 and $2,000,000 gave 3.1% of their income to charity, which would equal $51,322 on an income of $1,655,563,” Fox News reported.
The White House released a statement on Friday that read, “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.”
Reporting by The Blaze.
