What's in President Obama鈥檚 2015 income tax return?
Like millions of other Americans, President and Mrs. Obama filed their 2015 tax return shortly before the deadline. Unlike most of us, they also on the White House website for everyone to see. In many ways, their return paints a picture of a typical high-income working household鈥攚ith one major exception: The Obamas gave much more generously to charity than most, even more than most of their fellow one-percenters.
More than 90 percent of the first couple鈥檚 income came from the president鈥檚 salary鈥攖he same $400,000 the country has paid its commander -in-chief since 2001 (reduced this year by a few thousand dollars for some unstated reason). The president also earned about $56,000 in book royalties and only a few hundred dollars from investments. After subtracting contributions to a retirement plan, a deduction for Medicare tax on the president鈥檚 income as an author, and $3,000 of capital losses, the couple鈥檚 adjusted gross income (AGI) totaled $436,065.
Like about a third of taxpayers鈥攁nd nearly all high-income households鈥攖he Obamas itemized deductions. They reported more than $48,000 of state and local taxes, over $36,000 of mortgage interest, and $64,000 donated to charitable causes. The first two are fairly typical of people at the Obama鈥檚 income level but giving away about 14 percent of income is unusually generous, far more than the 聽2 percent Americans typically give away. 聽After deducting about $145,000, the Obama鈥檚 taxable income was $290,640, putting them in the 33 percent tax bracket.
Tax on that income would be $71,440鈥攁bout 25 percent of the Obamas鈥� taxable income (and 16 percent of their AGI). But, like about two-thirds of people at their income level, the Obamas were caught by the dreaded . That tax took away a portion of their deduction for state and local taxes, applied a different exemption and different tax rates, and added $7,743 to their tax bill.
After deducting nearly $1,000 of taxes they paid to other countries and adding $1,500 of self-employment tax and nearly $1,800 of additional Medicare tax imposed by the Affordable Care Act, the Obama鈥檚 bottom line came to about $81,500, about 18.7 percent of their AGI.
The Obamas were like the vast majority of American households in one other way: They got a big refund. About 80 percent of filers get some鈥攐r all, or even more than all鈥攐f their withheld tax payments back. The feds withheld about $99,000 from the President鈥檚 salary and the Obamas had applied $5,000 of their 2014 refund to their 2015 taxes. 聽Their nearly $23,000 refund was more than eight times this year鈥檚 (through April 1, 2016).
Yes, except for its bigger numbers (and the AMT), the president鈥檚 tax return looked a lot like the returns of many Americans. If you want to learn more about the Obamas鈥� taxes, check out this put together by the Tax Policy Center.
This article first appeared at .
