海角大神

Hillary Clinton released her聽2015 individual income tax return聽today. The Clintons are rich, pay a lot of taxes, and are more generous than average for people in their bracket. They file returns that seem designed for intense scrutiny, which is to say, kind of boring. Interestingly, if Secretary Clinton's tax plan were the law, she'd pay a lot more tax. In contrast, if Donald Trump's plan were adopted, she'd pay much lower taxes.

For a tax geek, there鈥檚 a lot of information to be gleaned from the tax filings:

1. 鈥淪peaking and writing鈥� is very lucrative for the Clintons.聽They earned $10.2 million from those activities and Bill Clinton鈥檚 consulting.聽This puts them in very exclusive company鈥攑eople with income over $10 million make up less than 0.01 percent of all income tax returns filed in 2013 (the latest data).
2. For very, very rich people, the Clintons鈥� tax returns are really boring鈥攖he kind of tax returns that you might expect from a couple that expects intense scrutiny.聽Their capital income comes from bank interest and dividends on a Vanguard index fund.聽No sales of individual stocks; income from partnerships, S-corporations, or trusts; income from foreign investments.聽
3. In consequence, they pay a lot of income tax.聽Their overall effective income tax rate is 31 percent.聽Including self-employment taxes, it鈥檚 34 percent.聽The average income tax rate (defined as income taxes divided by AGI) for people in the $10 million and over income bracket was 26.2 percent in 2013 (and they鈥檙e in the bottom of this elite group).
4. The Clintons donated $1,042,000 to charity, the vast majority of it ($1 million) to the Clinton Family Foundation (not the controversial Clinton Foundation).聽That is 9.8 percent of AGI, which is higher than the聽7.5 percent average for itemizers in their income bracket.聽
5. All of their contributions were in cash. Again, boring but safe. About half of donations by high-income people are noncash鈥攎ostly appreciated property鈥攚hich offers the additional tax benefit of avoiding capital gains tax. (In less prosperous times, the Clintons invited some ridicule by聽donating used clothing, including underwear, to charity.)
6. Donating to their family foundation gives them flexibility about when the funds will actually be disbursed to charity and also makes their actual philanthropy a bit opaque.聽All foundations must file 990 forms, which are made public, but with a lag.聽The Clinton Family Foundation鈥檚 2013 form 990 is聽here.聽If you鈥檙e curious about who benefits from Clinton philanthropy, the list starts on page 28.
7. At least in 2015, the Clintons would be unaffected by the 30 percent minimum tax on high-income people that Secretary Clinton聽proposed鈥攖he so-called Buffett Rule.聽However, other provisions in Clinton鈥檚 tax plan would raise their taxes significantly, especially the 5 percent surtax on AGIs over $5 million (for couples) and the 28-percent limitation on the value of itemized deductions (which total $2.2 million on the Clinton鈥檚 tax return).
8. In contrast, Mr. Trump鈥檚 tax proposals would save the Clintons a lot of money on their taxes.聽He鈥檇 tax all of their business income at a 15 percent rate鈥攕aving the couple about $2 million compared with current law.

So that could be a consolation prize if Secretary Clinton鈥檚 quest for the White House falls short.

This article originally appeared on TaxVox.