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In 2012, Obamas Made $662,076, Paid $112,214 In Taxes

U.S. President Barack Obama.
Alex Wong
/
Getty Images
U.S. President Barack Obama.

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama report that they had an adjusted gross income of $608,611 in 2012. The couple gave $150,034 to charity and ended up paying $112,214 in taxes.

That's an effective tax rate of about 18 percent.

That's a drop from what Obama had paid in previous years. In 2010, for example, Obama paid and effective tax rate of 25 percent. In 2011, that number dropped to 20.5 percent.

Reuters reports:

"Obama has pressed for wealthy people like himself to pay a greater share in taxes.

"The issue was a sticking point in his re-election campaign against Republican Mitt Romney, a wealthy former private equity executive who had an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent in 2011.

"'Under the president's own tax proposals, including limitations on the value of tax preferences for high-income households, he would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it,' White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement."

Via The Washington Post, here are the tax returns:

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, made $385,072 and paid $87,851 in taxes. Their returns are here.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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