President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden earned $619,976 in 2023, according to their joint tax returnreleased by the White House on Monday – the deadline date for Americans to file their taxes.

The White House also released the return for Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, showing that pair made $450,299 last year.

“President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people,” the White House said in a statement on Monday, “and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken.”

That statement could be seen as a dig at former President Donald Trump, who declined to voluntarily release his tax returns while he was president. Six years of Trump’s tax returns, including from his time as president, were released to the public by the House Ways and Means Committee at the end of 2022.

The bulk of the Bidens’ income came from President Biden’s congressionally mandated $400,000 salary, along with pensions. The first lady also earned $85,985 from her position as a teacher at Northern Virginia Community College.

  • cum@lemmy.cafe
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    7 months ago

    That’s actually not a lot for being the president. Tons of CEOs are making like 100x that lol.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Yeah it’s been going up. Makes sense. Arguably not enough for how much stress that job is. Of course it comes with a free house and that has a bowling alley in it, and escape hatches for hookers.

        • Senshi@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          The reason politicians should have good salaries is that it should dissuade them from being attracted by bribes or other kinds of corruption. Of course, some peoples’ greed knows no bounds.

          And frankly, I’d much rather see public servants rake in big money than the 0.1% “businessmen”.

  • silverbax@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Now let’s compare the numbers to Donald Trump’s…oh thats right, he said he would release his nine years ago and never did.

    • twig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 months ago

      I’m of two minds here. I don’t think anyone for any reason should be allowed to earn over a half million per year. But also there are people whose positions are far less important who have earnings significantly higher than this.

      The carryover effect of an economic system that that has catastrophically imbalanced wealth distribution means that in order for actually qualified people occupying roles that are important, you need to compensate them at a very high rate.

      • Dozzi92@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        I generally agree with you, but half a mil is peanuts and those aren’t the people I think we should be eating. I think something in the 5-10m range is where we should be taking 90% of it or something. But yeah, you need to pay leaders enough for the job to be worth doing, because the goodness of one’s heart doesn’t provide unfortunately.

      • skozzii@lemmy.ca
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        7 months ago

        Out of curiosity, What position do you feel is more powerful?

        I’m not American, but I don’t feel there is anyone more powerful than the person commanding the single most powerful fighting force in the history of the earth.

        • Danquebec@sh.itjust.works
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          7 months ago

          Not US American either here.

          I think Xi Jinping might be the most powerful person. China is not as powerful as the US, but Xi holds more power over his country than his counterpart in the US.

  • Wisas62@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Effective tax rate of 23.64%. He’s very nearly in the 1% as far as yearly wages go, probably is when you calculate his total net worth. He paid $146k in taxes, more than some people will pay in their whole lifetime.

    • TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip
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      7 months ago

      Oh boy don’t look at Florida’s teacher salaries then. (Or whatever hell holes are the 2 states lower than us)

      • iheartneopets@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        Cries in Oklahoma. I’m hearing from other locals that, since we’re losing so many teachers, some classes are being combined into gymnasiums with 120 kids to 1 teacher. Fuck Governor Stitt and his goon Ryan Walters.

    • Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      I would like to know where to be to make that kind of money. My partner with a masters, just started making low 60s and we live in the highest paying district in the state. Avg home price is 575,188 and they have 70k in. No wonder we can buy here and stay here

    • WeirdGoesPro@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      7 months ago

      Way more than my mom was paid as a teacher. She climbed the ranks for 20 years until retiring relatively recently, and barely broke 70 in all that time.

    • theneverfox@pawb.social
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      7 months ago

      I mean, in general, sure? It’s a very expensive area, 100k is middle class even with the public servant housing programs they run

      It’s community college though - is she teaching a class a week or full time?

      I’m more concerned about elementary school teachers being sucked dry for $55-75k with higher degrees ( that’s 10k up from what it was a decade ago… I hope I’m way under but I’m probably over)

        • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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          7 months ago

          Yeah, I’m assuming she’s pretty highly paid in comparison to her coworkers, but community colleges don’t pay especially well.

          Ideally community colleges can get specialized funding so they can pay their workers adequately without raising prices.

        • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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          7 months ago

          But you see the point of the article is to get folk thinking about the inequity and blame the President. Thus, while you didn’t take the bait, you are circling the hook and paying attention.

        • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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          7 months ago

          incorrect. the assumption is implied from the headline and while no that was not the comment’s intent it is playing along none the less.

          • Cows Look Like Maps@sh.itjust.works
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            7 months ago

            You’re saying Tolookah is “playing along” with an “implied assumption” [that you made] from the headline.

            So they still never said that Biden directly pays teachers. You made an assumption about a headline and are forcing it as a strawman argument.

            There’s need to be condescending and dismissive, it makes it unpleasant to have discussions online.

            • TigrisMorte@kbin.social
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              7 months ago

              No, I did not say that. In fact I explicitly state that was not their intent. Please desist in lying.

              • Cows Look Like Maps@sh.itjust.works
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                7 months ago

                I explicitly state that was not their intent.

                I don’t know what to say… It’s clear that you’re either trolling at this point or just very toxic. Blocked.

    • Goku@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      $85k for teacher seems reasonable in my opinion, especially considering how much time they get off during the year.

      I thought it was much lower than that.

      That said, I would love to see them make more than that. However, teaching is a fulfilling and rewarding job, and a lot of people do it for that reason. That makes it a competitive job market, and that’s probably why salaries are low.

      • 4am@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        You think teachers just vacation when they’re not in class, how cute

      • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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        7 months ago

        First of all, she’s a college professor not a “teacher”.

        Second, teachers at lower levels are leaving the profession. There’s not enough teachers for the roles right now. It’s not rewarding anymore.

          • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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            7 months ago

            Sounds like she works at a stingy university, and is probably not also the President’s wife.

            • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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              7 months ago

              higher educational recruitment is a mess. She gets a daily email digest of jobs, there have been 2 in the last 5 years she could’ve applied to with better rates of pay, but both were very rural and away from friends and family by thousands of miles

  • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    Okay?

    The presidential salary is $400,000/yr, which is pretty small compared to a lot of NATO countries. Jill just has to pull in $200k, which is probably pretty doable for people with their background- I’d bet they own a business or two at least, in which case this is still fairly modest in the US. It’s an unimaginable amount of money for me and almost anyone I know, but it’s really not out of the ordinary (and maybe even pretty low) for someone in an ownership/leadership position in the US.

    • formergijoe@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      Here’s a full breakdown:

      Biden’s presidential salary is $400,000. Jill Biden reported earning $85,985 from Northern Virginia Community College, where she teaches. The Bidens collected $129,876 in taxable interest, pensions and annuities, Social Security benefits, and IRA distributions − significantly more than in 2022, producing the spike in income. Jill Biden also reported $4,115 in royalties from prior book publications.

      From USA Today

      Biden does get a pension for his time as Vice President and senator and they both qualify for social security.

  • sartalon@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Article says Jill pulls $85k. So the rest is probably investments, which is pretty damn modest, considering their age.

    • formergijoe@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      The Bidens collected $129,876 in taxable interest, pensions and annuities, Social Security benefits, and IRA distributions − significantly more than in 2022, producing the spike in income. Jill Biden also reported $4,115 in royalties from prior book publications.

      Sauce: USA Today

    • Considering the dude has been in the Senate since dinosaurs were on the planet during which time he could partake legally in inside trading and he had access to much of the world’s confidential information and a long list of people volunteering to do him favors.

      That’s Jimmy-Carter-selling-his-peanut-farm modest.

    • ashok36@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      That’s way lower than I’d expect for someone with a doctorate. I guess it makes sense if she only works part time?

  • hark@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    The real money from the presidency comes after which is when they get paid millions in speaking fees to take advantage of connections.

    • isles@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      There’s a real chance that if he wins, he dies naturally in office.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    7 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    The White House also released the return for Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff, showing that pair made $450,299 last year.

    “President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people,” the White House said in a statement on Monday, “and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken.”

    Six years of Trump’s tax returns, including from his time as president, were released to the public by the House Ways and Means Committee at the end of 2022.

    They donated $5,000 to the Beau Biden Foundation, which works to protect children from abuse and is named after the president’s late son, and smaller amounts to organizations including the Fraternal Order of Police, a Wilmington fire station and St. Joseph on the Brandywine.

    Harris and Emhoff reported an income of $456,918 in 2022 and $1.6 million in 2021 - the year they sold a house.

    The current first couple restarted the tradition of the first family releasing their tax returns upon taking office in 2021.


    The original article contains 433 words, the summary contains 181 words. Saved 58%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

      • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Biden isn’t making all the rules in the country. Hell, he’s been made mostly a lame duck president by Congress’ obstruction.

        • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          What? Yes, that’s exactly the point. I was responding to someone implying that the president, the leader of our country, makes less than CEOs. From that, I suggested that CEOs make more because they have more political power than the president.

          Granted, it was tongue-in-cheek and we both left a number of gaps to fill in, but you’re arguing the same point as I am.

          • ganksy@lemmy.world
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            7 months ago

            CEO: What should I do today? A. Rebrand the company. B. Cut jobs. C. Enshitify product or service

            Implying that POTUS has an easier job than a CEO?? Really

            • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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              7 months ago

              Y’all are really good at putting words in other people’s mouths. When did I ever say “easier” or who does more work or anything?

              I mean, you’re welcome to infer anything you want to, but you’re completely wrong about what I was implying.

              Lemme try to break it down into smaller, easier to digest pieces for you:

              • We vote for our politicians
              • Our politicians become or already were gross cretins sucking at the teat of corporations
              • We vote on issues
              • Politicians listen to the corporations instead
              • Politicians shape laws to the desires of corporations
              • Outcome: corporations write our laws via lobbying
              • Satirical conclusion: corporations have more influence on politics than the president, therefore CEOs deserve more money for their role in politics since they produce more predictable results