President Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned about $1.73 million in 2010, their return stated. They also paid $52,000 in Illinois state taxes. The president receives a $400,000 salary, the majority of his income came from sales of the his books, "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."
The couple donated $245,000 to 36 different charities last year, which totaled about 14% of their income. The entirety of the proceeds of his 2010 children's book, "Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters," was donated to a charity benefiting children of slain and disabled soldiers.
I am interested to see how the wingnuts will spin this to allow them to attack this man who earned two thirds less than he did in 2009, paid taxes of almost half a million dollars, and still donated $245,000 to charities.
I would certainly like to see this tax information compared to Sarah Palin's, Donald Trump's. or any other GOP hopeful out there. Somehow I would imagine that they would fall far short of our President, and his First Lady's, largess.
And remember this man is still in favor of repealing the Bush tax breaks for the rich.
Yeah I think I will resist the urge to complain about how much I paid in taxes this year.
good peeps, those obama's.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, Gov. Snyder is taking over a small, poor, black($10,000 per capita income) town in Michigan so that he can give the city park, which was ceded to Benton Harbor in 1917, to developer/contributers to build a golf resort and take away beach and water access to the residents who own that area. If this is what the GOP calls 'small government,' I'm sure their largesse toward actual charities is zip. But I'm certain that the shill that is Graham's Samaritan's Purse got plenty of GOP donations after Palin's photo op in Haiti. These people are rapidly becoming Hitlers.
ReplyDeleteBravo! I sure like the First Family. Nice people. And I never complain about taxes because I believe in them. Always have, always will. Tax code has issues, with some paying too much and some too little, but that doesn't take away from the basic concept of citizens paying for the many services a free country provides, many of them hidden and unnoticed.
ReplyDeleteThe Palins' tax returns for 2006 and 2007:
ReplyDelete2006: Income 127,869, taxes 11,944, charity 4,880
2007: Income 166,080, taxes 24,738, charity 3,325
I don't think Sarah or any of family have had to pretend to lift their wallet to pay for anything for years. They've lived off the city of Wasilla, The State of Alaska, the RNC, the Fund Trust, SarahPAC, publishing houses and ghost-organizations for the last '20' years.
ReplyDeleteI've said it before and I'll say it again, since there is no longer any measure of checks and balances to the Heath/Palin households, they can accept gifts willy-nilly. There is no doubt that they get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise, gift cards, baby things that they haven't had to worry about in the last two years.
What other lower middle class families do you know that have owned as many cars, trucks, buses, planes, condo's, cabins and a lakefront house as Sarah and Todd?
Nice work if you can get it.
It has never ceased to amaze me that the self-proclaimed Christians who support the Tea Party, the GOP, and candidates such as Huckabee and Palin will carp endlessly about President Obama but fail to live up his Christian example of service and charitable contributions.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama lives his Christian faith, much like former President Jimmy Carter. Both are humble men, unwilling to wear the faith as bade on their lapels. They simply live it. Both men honor women by supporting policies that benefit women and families. Both men have strong families, are faithful to their wives and attentive to their children.
Both men speak with care and thoughtfulness, and live their principles by example, not shouted sound bites.
Both men have been reviled by the GOP, even as they work for the poor, the ill and the elderly.
I am not Christian myself, but I honor President Obama and his wife for honoring their faith by living exemplary lives. I know of no one in the GOP - Romney the Mormon, and Huckabee the former pastor and Sarah the shrill hypocrite - who live their lives as well.
I truly respect the Obama family for its example of how to live life with honor and dignity.
Taxes are a civic duty and we all - each and every one of us - benefit in some way from our tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteCharitable giving is a tenant of every major faith. Of the current crop of Presidential hopefuls, no one comes near to being as service-oriented and supportive of those less well-off as the Obamas.
May they continue to grace our country as examples of how to live with humility and kindness for another term. We need people who live their faith but respect the faiths (or lack thereof) of others.
The love they have for one another exudes through their PDA ~ and I appreciate a President who genuinely wants the best for this nation, and the world quite frankly. I'd imagine that his earlier experiences as a community organizer primed him for the role of President, where care and compassion are the order of the day. This exemplifies a "servant's heart" . . . and the likes of simple sarah and her ilk should be grateful that "God's will was done" in November, 2008.
ReplyDeleteThe other option makes me shudder to even consider, and thanks Gryph for highlighting the stark differences.
Hail to the Chief!
I'll bet that this REALLY irks all those white racist skinflint libertarian baggers, Palin included.
ReplyDeletethe REAL difference..
ReplyDeleteObama gives to charities
Sarah takes BIG speaking fees from charities.
A ethical, good man, our president is. And Mrs Obama, too. Even Ted Kennedy had his income so sheltered that he paid very little. His case used to be presented in tax-avoidance seminars.
ReplyDeleteWe are so lucky to have this man at the helm of our country, esp in these v troubled times.
I saw a bumper sticker over at The Liberal Store: "Freedom Isn't Free - So Quit Whining and Pay Your Taxes!"
ReplyDeleteI had a good laugh, but I know my Tparty relatives would have a stroke if I put that sticker on my car.
I read this to my conservative husband and he screwed up his face and said, "Why is our president making over a million dollars a year?" My husband supports corporate heads earning several million dollars a year, but hearing that President Obama donated 14% of What he earns, he didn't applaud his generosity, but attacked how much he earns in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIt's easy to see why President and First Lady Obama are so generous to charities.
ReplyDeleteThey are generous with their love for each other and for their daughters, as their family photos always attest.
The first family is such a beautiful and uplifting respresentation of ~ charity begins at home.
Sarah went after celebrity, and for a while, she was in the media every day. She could have used her ability to attract attention to raise money for the charity that should be nearest and dearest to her servant's heart, Down Syndrome organizations.
ReplyDeleteHowever, March 21 was Down Syndrome Day, an excellent time for Sarah (and Rebecca) to have posted on face book and tweeted the loyal fans to make a donation in her honor to either state or national Down syndrome organization.
The date, 3/21, was chosen because it is usually the 21st chromosome that is the extra one, meaning 3 instead of 2. But, I don't remember Sarah promoting awareness, understanding and charity on that day or any day. In fact, that would have been a perfect day for the Pee People and Sarah to issue a Trig update, showing his progress made possible through therapy. I guess that now that Trig is too big to tote around like a little prop, he isn't as useful as he used to be.
Sarah takes large amounts of money in speaking fees from charities.
ReplyDeleteWhich leaves less money for the charity to use on their intended purpose..
Sarah... the anti-Christian
@ 5:23AM
ReplyDeleteI couldn't have said it better. Applause! Applause!
President and Mrs Obama bring me great comfort and relief, by their example, in this mad, mad, mad world.
ReplyDelete@5:59- where was your husband during the8 years of Bush-Cheney? Does he have any idea of the millions they made while in office? But not just them--the cabinet, too? Don't forget Rumsfeld's investments in Tamiflu, and the Bush administrations declarations about the dangers of bird flu..,
ReplyDeleteOT..kind of....but did you see that the First Lady and Second Lady were involved in a near miss airplane event the other day? Wouldn't that have been tragic for this country?
ReplyDeleteHe always glazes over those 8 years-- I don't understand the logic behind his thinking, or that of his church (which I stopped attending a while back.) When people think their vote will get them salvation in the next world, then they have their group backing which makes them feel good, they quit thinking about their own values and supporting those.
ReplyDeleteI so like the Obama family! They are wonderful examples to all of us throughout America.
ReplyDeleteIn addtion to their largesse, their children did not have prolonged truancy from school nor did the President operate from their house in Chicago via FB and twitter!
ReplyDeleteI can't control my self from pitying Palin and judge her mentally limited when she declares social mediums to be what they are not. Someone needs to clue her in the vast numbers of people who do not even own computers.
I see and hear a foolish woman playing mind games due to her sick highly manipulative underhanded conniving personality spun as unconventional. My opinion is toxic and perhaps Pathalogical.
6:38 -- don't forget Cheney's Haliburton and of course Blackwater
ReplyDeletehttp://www.salon.com/news/feature/2007/10/02/blackwater_bush
How they attacked him was to figure out the amount the Obama's donated was "exactly" the amount needed to bring them into the next lower tax bracket.
ReplyDeletelet's NOT forget that in his speech last week President Obama stated quite clearly that he should be paying MORE taxes to take the burden off those not so financially well-off.
ReplyDeleteWe are so lucky to have such a class act as President.
anon at 5:59
ReplyDeleteThat's the very reason my parents never allowed any of us to date republicans growing up.
I can't imagine being married to someone with that line of thought process...good luck with that :)
Kim Morris at 7:46
ReplyDeleteGood, sounds like the Obama's have hired a great accountant. I know that when my husband and I pay in quarterly that our accountant will tell us how much charitable donations should be done in that last quarter too.
How much do you want to bet that despite the VERY public way that Palin wears her bible on her sleeve, that she didn't even come close to donating as high a percentage of her income to charity?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I'd be surprised if ANY of the GOP POTUS wannabes contributed as much to charity, even though they are all such good KKKhristians and our president is naught but a Kenyan Muslim socialist.
It will be interesting when some of these assholes have to start making financial disclosures. I suspect that they won't look so Christlike when it becomes evident how they hoard their filthy lucre.
I didn't vote for Obama, thought he talked a good talk, but didn't belive a word he said. I watched and waited for him to fail. I wanted him to fail, so that I could say "I told you so" to so many friends who were supporters. Years have passed, and I have paid attention to his actions as well as his words. He has proven me wrong, and I am glad.
ReplyDelete