Biden's Tax Returns
mca47
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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/
(CNN) — Joe Biden's newly released tax returns appear to confirm what the Democratic VP candidate has long contended — he is among the poorest U.S. senators currently serving.
At least half the nation’s senators are millionaires. But Biden and his wife Jill earned a relatively small $320,000 in 2006, paying about $66,000 in taxes. Over the last 10 years Biden and his wife earned just shy of $2.5 million — an average income of roughly $245,000 per year.
The Obama campaign released the 10 years worth of documents earlier Friday, in part to pressure the McCain campaign to do the same with Sarah Palin and her husband Todd's returns.
“The last eight years have brought Americans' faith in their government to its lowest point in over thirty years," Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said. "The only answer is to change the way we do business in Washington. That starts with something as simple as transparency. That's why Senator Biden is releasing his tax returns for the last 10 years."
A McCain aide told CNN Friday the campaign would release Palin's documents, but on their "own timeframe."
The Bidens' returns do not specify the various sources of the income, but the Delaware Democrat earns $165,000 per year as a senator and draws roughly $20,000 annually from his visiting law professorship at Widener University. Jill Biden is a teacher in Delaware and draws a salary of about $66,000. The 2007 tax returns also indicate Biden earned $71,000 in royalties for his book "Promises to Keep."
Biden, who does not hold a second residence in Washington and commutes back to Delaware daily via Amtrak train, often jokes about his relatively poor financial standing on the campaign trail. His modes net worth is also touted by the Obama campaign as a sign Biden has not become a creature of Washington or a fixture on its cocktail circuit.
"I make a good salary, although I am listed as the second-poorest man in this Congress," Biden said in Missouri last week. "I’m not proud of it. I’m not proud of it. But that’s what happens when you get elected when you’re 29 years old."
The newly released tax returns also show the Bidens have given substantially less to charity as a proportion of their income than both Barack Obama and John McCain. In 2007, Biden donated $995 to charitable organizations, or 0.3 percent of his pre-taxed income. That compares to the 5.7 percent of income the Obamas donated to charity last year and the 26 percent John McCain gave away.
As a U.S. senator, Biden released a financial disclosure form earlier this year in which he valued his assets at between $59,000 and $360,000. He also reported liabilities of between $140,000 and $365,000.
"When the last listing came out, they listed my net worth as between 70 and 150,000 dollars and Rush Limbaugh said ‘How can this guy manage our economy, he doesn’t have any money?’" Biden also said at that Missouri campaign stop. "Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren’t supposed to make money!"
(CNN) — Joe Biden's newly released tax returns appear to confirm what the Democratic VP candidate has long contended — he is among the poorest U.S. senators currently serving.
At least half the nation’s senators are millionaires. But Biden and his wife Jill earned a relatively small $320,000 in 2006, paying about $66,000 in taxes. Over the last 10 years Biden and his wife earned just shy of $2.5 million — an average income of roughly $245,000 per year.
The Obama campaign released the 10 years worth of documents earlier Friday, in part to pressure the McCain campaign to do the same with Sarah Palin and her husband Todd's returns.
“The last eight years have brought Americans' faith in their government to its lowest point in over thirty years," Obama spokesman Josh Earnest said. "The only answer is to change the way we do business in Washington. That starts with something as simple as transparency. That's why Senator Biden is releasing his tax returns for the last 10 years."
A McCain aide told CNN Friday the campaign would release Palin's documents, but on their "own timeframe."
The Bidens' returns do not specify the various sources of the income, but the Delaware Democrat earns $165,000 per year as a senator and draws roughly $20,000 annually from his visiting law professorship at Widener University. Jill Biden is a teacher in Delaware and draws a salary of about $66,000. The 2007 tax returns also indicate Biden earned $71,000 in royalties for his book "Promises to Keep."
Biden, who does not hold a second residence in Washington and commutes back to Delaware daily via Amtrak train, often jokes about his relatively poor financial standing on the campaign trail. His modes net worth is also touted by the Obama campaign as a sign Biden has not become a creature of Washington or a fixture on its cocktail circuit.
"I make a good salary, although I am listed as the second-poorest man in this Congress," Biden said in Missouri last week. "I’m not proud of it. I’m not proud of it. But that’s what happens when you get elected when you’re 29 years old."
The newly released tax returns also show the Bidens have given substantially less to charity as a proportion of their income than both Barack Obama and John McCain. In 2007, Biden donated $995 to charitable organizations, or 0.3 percent of his pre-taxed income. That compares to the 5.7 percent of income the Obamas donated to charity last year and the 26 percent John McCain gave away.
As a U.S. senator, Biden released a financial disclosure form earlier this year in which he valued his assets at between $59,000 and $360,000. He also reported liabilities of between $140,000 and $365,000.
"When the last listing came out, they listed my net worth as between 70 and 150,000 dollars and Rush Limbaugh said ‘How can this guy manage our economy, he doesn’t have any money?’" Biden also said at that Missouri campaign stop. "Well, I thought the deal was, when you went to work for the government you weren’t supposed to make money!"
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aka, once we've double checked it to erase all kickbacks and illegal unreported income.
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By definition, there wouldn't be any unreported income on their tax returns!
That said...Limbaugh is such an ass. Wow!
"Despite income ranging from $210,432 - $321,379 over the ten-year period, the Bidens have given only $120 - $995 per year to charity, which amounts to 0.06% - 0.31% of their income..... It is jarring that a couple earning over $200,000 per year would give as little as $2 per week to charity. This giving compares very unfavorably to John McCain, whose tax returns show that he gave 27.3% - 28.6% of his income to charity in 2006-2007. During the same period, the Obamas' tax returns show that they gave 5.8% - 6.1% of their income to charity."
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/09/biden-releases.html
This is the most telling part of the article and I saw the above linked by a friends blog... I want to see what palin gives too, but giving that little to charity may backfire on ol' biden.
mccain still makes over 10 times what biden does AFTER mccain gives that to charity. anything biden does cuts into his life and discretionary income far more than mccain giving away half of what he earns.
funny that all of you who rant and rave about individual responsibility have such a huge problem with the guy saving for his retirement instead of giving it away to lazy welfare people :rolleyes:
Now I'll admit I give very little to charity myself, but if I had that kind of money I would like to think I would give more then $1,000
here's the averages that people donate to charities broken down by income
* $15,000-$30,000 AGI: $1,916 average charitable deduction
* $30,000-$50,000 AGI: $2,158 average charitable deduction
* $50,000-$100,000 AGI: $2,703 average charitable deduction
* $100,000-$200,000 AGI: $4,057 average charitable deduction
* $200,000 or more of AGI: $20,434 average charitable deduction
spare me the aplogetics for biden. Even if he gives 1000 dollars a year, he still gives 1/2 as much as people who make ~15% of what he makes. He made 2.5 million over 10 years. The median household income is 50,000...that means the "2nd poorest senator" (boo f'ing hoo) still made 2 million dollars more during that period than the average american.
i think the point was he wasnt misconstruing how much he made per year compared to some people who dont want to publicly release their tax return statements.
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Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Wow. All of a sudden it is now okay to not care about the poor. You're funny, and completely hypocritical.
I gave more to charity my first year out of school than this guy with an entry level job.
And with his net worth at his age, he obviously is spending the money, just not on charity.
Who cares? The issue of who donated more to charity isn't something that should be used to promote or belittle a political campaign. It's a private way of giving without expectation of return.
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No - but he belongs to the party that wants to force more of us to give away more of our money.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Volunteering, being active and involved and doing what's right is just as (if not more) important than writing a check and not seeing where your money is really going.
For example, think about a community organizer and what they do for their local community. Wait a minute, *gasp*, wasn't Obama a community organizer? :eek: