NEW YORK – President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle took home a combined income of more than $2.5 million last year, tax return forms showed.
In all, the couple made $2,656,902 (€2 million) in 2008 – with the vast majority coming from the sale of the president’s best-selling books.
It meant that they paid $855,323 (€648,266) back to the government in taxes. A further $172,050 (€130,400) was distributed among 37 different charities.
The president’s income and tax contribution was declared as anti- tax protesters held a series of tea party demonstrations across the US.
Organisers of the events – stoked by right-wing commentators – are angry at the Obama administration’s perceived tax-and-spend policies.
The protests have been designed to echo the 1773 Boston Tea Party in which colonists dumped tea into Boston harbour under the slogan “No taxation without representation”.
The protests coincide with the last day for Americans to file their annual tax return forms.
The Obamas’ income is made up largely from proceeds from the president’s books, Dreams From My Father and The Audacity of Hope. The two books brought the couple almost $2.5 million (€1,895,000) in royalties last year.
However the overall take-home pay for the couple has slumped from the previous year. In 2007, their combined income was $4.2 million (€3.2 million).
Vice-president Joe Biden and his wife Jill reported a pre-tax income of $269,256 (€204,075). – (AP)