Obamas’ Tax Return Shows Lower Household Income Than in 2009

Obamas Report $1.7 Million in Income for 2010

Income for the Obama household continued to slip in 2010, tax returns show, as proceeds from President Obama’s best-selling books tapered off. But just as he has said, his income is easily high enough to make the family eligible for a tax increase under his own deficit-reduction proposals.

The president and his wife, Michelle Obama, on Monday reported an adjusted gross income of $1,728,096 for 2010, down from $5.5 million in 2009. Most of their income came from sales of his books “Dreams From My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope.” The Obamas paid $453,770 in federal taxes, for an effective tax rate of just over 26 percent; the top individual tax rate is 35 percent.

The Obamas donated $245,075 — 14.2 percent of their income before tax deductions and exemptions — to 36 charities. According to the White House, more than half went to the couple’s favorite charity, the Fisher House Foundation, which benefits families of fallen and disabled soldiers; it gets all proceeds from Mr. Obama’s children’s book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters,” which was published late last year.

Separately, the Obamas paid $51,568 in state income taxes to Illinois.

The Obamas’ tax liability would be higher, of course, under his proposals to end the top Bush-era tax rates for those with more than $250,000 in annual taxable income and to limit to 28 percent the itemized deductions that people like him in the higher tax brackets can claim. And, he often says, that is the way it should be for a nation with a growing debt and widening income inequality between the rich and the poor.

In a speech on Wednesday contrasting his vision for reducing the growth of deficits with that of Congressional Republicans, who favor additional tax cuts and would transform and more sharply reduce projected spending for Medicare and Medicaid, Mr. Obama said: “They want to give people like me a $200,000 tax cut that’s paid for by asking 33 seniors to each pay $6,000 more in health costs? That’s not right, and it’s not going to happen as long as I am president.”

Of the Obamas’ income, nearly $400,000 was from his salary as president. Their $1.7 million adjusted gross income was down from $5.5 million in 2009 and $2.7 million in 2008. In those years, too, royalties from his first two books accounted for the bulk of the earnings.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and his wife, Jill Biden, also released their 2010 return as part of the annual White House ritual of making the information public on the federal filing deadline.

Compared with the president, Mr. Biden is a pauper. He and his wife had an adjusted gross income of $379,178, most of it his salary. The Bidens paid $86,626 in federal taxes, for an effective tax rate of about 23 percent. They also paid $14,479 in income taxes to Delaware and $3,515 to Virginia, and contributed $5,350 to charity, counting money and in-kind donations.