NEW YORK: Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned $477,383 in adjusted gross income in 2014, a slight decrease from the previous year, and paid $93,362 in federal taxes, according to a tax return released by the White House on Friday.
Most of Mr. Obama’s income comes from his $400,000 salary as president, and he now receives far less in royalties from his books than he did early in his presidency. In 2008 and 2009, Mr. Obama earned a total of $8.1 million from his two autobiographies, “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” In 2014, the royalties totaled $94,889.
White House officials released the tax return with little fanfare, as they have done in each year of Mr. Obama’s presidency. The return shows that the Obamas donated $70,712 — or about 15 percent of their income to charity.
The largest gift was to Fisher House Foundation, a Chicago-based organization that provides accommodations for families of service members who are receiving treatment at military and veterans’ hospitals. The Obamas donated $22,012 to the group; in 2013 they gave $8,751, and in 2012 they donated $103,000.
White House officials said Mr. Obama’s tax bill was higher than it would otherwise have been because of policies that steered tax cuts to the middle class and limited tax breaks for the wealthy. The president also paid additional Medicare and investment income taxes, according to a post on the White House blog.
