President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, on Monday released tax returns showing that their income increased 7% to $619,976 in 2023, and that the couple paid 23.7% of their income in federal taxes.
Biden released the data on the day US taxes for the previous year are due and as the Democrat seeks re-election in 2024.
Donald Trump, his Republican opponent, broke the tradition of presidents making their federal tax returns public, saying he was unable to do so while being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, even as the agency claimed he was free. to publicize them.
A Democratic-controlled 2022 House committee released Trump’s redacted results for 2015 to 2020, despite the former president’s objections.
Trump was in a New York courtroom on Monday for a historic criminal trial, one of several legal issues that implicated the former president’s personal finances.
“President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people, and that the long tradition of releasing presidential tax returns annually should continue uninterrupted,” the White House said in a statement.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a social media post on Monday, Trump said American families have benefited from tax cuts passed while he was in office. He said if Biden “gets what he wants,” people would face “colossal” tax increases. He did not include any information about his 2023 tax return.
Biden and his wife earned four-fifths of their income from their jobs as U.S. president and professor at Northern Virginia Community College, respectively. Joe Biden earned a salary of $400,000, while Jill Biden earned $85,985 from her job as an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College.
The additional income came from interest on investments, pensions and a legal entity that collects royalties from the couple’s books. Most of the increase in income compared to 2022 resulted from interest paid into one of the couple’s bank accounts, according to the income statement.
The proportion of Joe Biden’s income going to federal taxes was roughly the same as the previous year.
Biden plans to give a speech on tax policy in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, which is expected to include a call for the wealthy to pay higher taxes. Pennsylvania is expected to be one of the most hotly contested 2024 election states in November.
The president’s return also showed that Biden donated $20,477 to charities, about 3.3% of his income, with beneficiaries including several churches and public health groups such as the Epilepsy Foundation and the Fraternal Order of Police.
Biden’s running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, also released a tax return showing income of $450,380 for 2023, federal taxes of $88,570 and charitable donations of $23,026 .
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
