Obamas put tax returns on Web
Barack Obama's campaign yesterday posted on its website the senator and his wife's tax returns for 2000 through 2006, and challenged rival Hillary Clinton to do the same. More than 100 pages of the returns are available to anyone with Internet access.
Senator Clinton said yesterday she will release her tax returns in the next week, well in advance of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said the Obamas will disclose their taxes for 2007 "in the coming weeks."
The Obamas' tax returns, which had been released to certain news organizations in the past, show the couples' annual income skyrocketed in 2005 after the candidate's contract for his second book, "The Audacity of Hope."
After five years with total income of between $207,647 and $275,123, their combined income soared to $1,676,995 in 2005 and $991,296 in 2006. Over the seven years, their income averaged about $555,000, they paid an average of $183,374, or one-third of the total income, in federal, state, and local taxes, and gave an average of $21,199, or 3.8 percent to charity.
From 2000 through 2004, their charitable gifts were an average of less than 1 percent of their total income, but rose to an average of more than 5 percent in 2005 and 2006.
Besides their income from Senator Obama's book contract and salaries in the US and Illinois senates, they received income some years from his teaching position at the University of Chicago and one year from a law firm. Income also came from Michelle Obama's job at the University of Chicago Hospitals and in the last two years from her position on the boards of two food companies.
