Taking a peek at Obama, Biden 2014 tax returns
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Admit it. You'd love to know how much taxes your friends, coworkers, family members pay.
Sorry. I can't help you find out those amounts. But I can offer an alternative to your tax voyeurism.
Check out the president's and vice president's 2014 tax returns.
What the Obamas owed: President Barack Obama and wife Michelle filed their joint Form 1040 a few days before the April 15 deadline.
Click image to see the Obamas' complete 2014 tax return.
The 38 pages, which includes worksheets, gives you a good idea of how the First Family gets its money and what steps the Prez and First Lady took to reduce their eventual tax bill, although Jerry Lynch, a certified financial planner, chartered underwriter and chartered financial consultant, says the Obamas could have done more to save on taxes.
The bottom line for the current White House residents was a $93,362 tax liability.
Feeling a bit better now about what you owed the U.S. Treasury?
Overall, the Obamas in 2014 were in the 33 percent federal tax bracket on ordinary income and the 15 percent one for capital gains. But their tax liability divided by their adjusted gross income of $477,383 puts their tax year 2014 effective federal tax rate at just 19.6 percent.
The president also was subject to both of the Obamacare surcharges. There's the additional 0.9 percent collected on earned income and the 3.8 percent tallied on investment income.
And, like most Americans, the couple paid state income taxes. Although they bunk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., their legal tax residency is Illinois. That state has a 5 percent flat income tax rate.
Joe and Dr. Jill: As for the Bidens, the veep and his wife filed joint federal and combined Delaware income tax returns. Dr. Biden filed a separate non-resident Virginia tax return.
Together, Joe and Jill Biden reported adjusted gross income of $388,844 and paid $90,506 in total federal tax for 2014. That's an effective tax rate of 23.3 percent.
Their state income tax payment to Delaware was $13,661. Dr. Biden paid $3,777 in Virginia income tax on her earnings in the Old Dominion.
Where their, and our, taxes go: Hmmmm. I wonder if the Obamas and Bidens plugged their tax numbers into the White House's new 2014 taxpayer receipt calculator.
I ran a sample tax bill of $25,000 through it to find out where our tax dollars are spent. You can find details at my Bankrate Taxes Blog post.
Also this last week at my other tax blog, I advised folks to put money in their Roth or traditional IRAs by the April 15 deadline and have it count as a 2014 IRA contribution. It's too late to do that now, but it's never too late -- or early -- to start thinking about socking away retirement money.
My additional tax musings over at Bankrate usually are posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Then the subsequent weekend, or sooner if I'm very efficient (and Tax Day is done!), I point out the highlights and links here at the ol' blog.
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