Book Income

The majority of the couple’s income, almost $2.5 million, came from proceeds on sales from the president’s books, “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.”


The Obamas also reported $1,107 of capital gains for 2008. They don’t qualify for preferential tax rates for capital gains because they owned the underlying assets -- U.S. Treasuries -- for less than one year.

The first family’s income declined from 2007, when they earned $4.2 million. Book royalties contributed $4 million of that amount.

Retirement Contributions

Steven Bankler, a San Antonio-based certified public accountant who has advised the Senate on tax issues, said Obama may be the first president in recent memory to use retirement contributions to reduce self-employment income.

The Obamas reported giving $172,050 to 37 charities, or about 6.5 percent of their adjusted gross income, according to a summary provided with their tax documents.

The biggest recipients of the Obamas’ charitable donations were the anti-poverty group CARE and the United Negro College Fund, which each received $25,000. The Obamas gave $5,000 each to 22 other organizations. Among them were the United Way of Galveston, Texas, and Columbia University in New York, Obama’s alma mater.

Itemized Deductions

In all, the Obamas claimed $301,519 in itemized deductions for 2008, including their charitable gifts, state income and property taxes, and $54,323 in mortgage interest. Their deductions were limited by their high income.

Separately, the Obamas filed returns to reflect a $12,000 gift to each of their daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7. That money that is exempt from income taxes in 2008.

Obama and his wife also paid $77,883 in income taxes to their home state of Illinois in 2008 and $22,233 in property taxes on their Chicago home, the documents show.

The administration also released the tax return filed by Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill. It shows they paid $46,952 in federal taxes for 2008 on $269,256 in adjusted gross income. They also paid $1,827 in alternative minimum tax, a levy the Obamas avoided because their income was too high.

The Bidens paid $11,164 in Delaware state income tax.

Biden’s Income

Their income came from his Senate salary of $165,526 and her $67,840 pay from Delaware Technical & Community College. He also received $20,500 from Widener University. Biden, 66, also reported $6,534 in Social Security benefits and $9,563 in royalties from his book, “Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics.”

The Bidens claimed $61,617 in itemized deductions, including $23,561 in state income and property taxes, $37,264 in mortgage interest.

.............$1,885 in charitable gifts, which included clothing donated to Goodwill Industries in March and May of last year they valued at $550.
He was criticized during the election campaign last year for giving an average of $369 a year to charity over the past decade while earning a six-figure income.

Other Donations

In March 2008, Obama released a decade’s worth of tax returns that showed that from 2000-2004 the couple donated less than 1 percent per year of their income in those years to charities. Since 2005, they have given between 5 percent and 6.5 percent of their income to charity.


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