Understanding The Bidens' 2023 Tax Returns: Insights And Key Takeaways

Tax season in the United States has come and gone, and most of us would probably rather forget all about it if we can. For the second year in a row, on tax day (April 15), President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden, plus Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff, released their own joint tax return to the public.

According to their filing, the Bidens earned a combined $619,976 in 2023. They paid nearly $150,000 in taxes, specifically $146,629 in federal income tax, with another $30,908 going to the state of Delaware. Jill Biden also owed some money to Virginia, paying $3,549 to that state due to her teaching position at Northern Virginia Community College.

Here's how much the Bidens have earned dating back to 2016:

• 2016: $400,000
• 2017: $11 million
• 2018: $4.6 million
• 2019: $944,737
• 2020: $607,336
• 2021: $610,702
• 2022: $579,514
• 2023: $619,976

Total: $19,362,265

The Bidens earned a little more in 2023 than they earned in 2022, but their income is down significantly from the roughly $16 million they made combined in 2017 and 2018. How did they make $16 million over those two years? Book advances, book royalties, and paid speeches.

How did the Bidens earn $619,976? Well, Joe earned $400,000 as president, while Jill took home $85,985 for teaching. Other sources of income include various pensions and Social Security payments.

Approximately 3.3% of the Bidens' joint income went towards charitable contributions, totaling $20,477 across 17 different organizations, including their own Beau Biden Foundation, named after their late son and devoted to the cause of fighting domestic child abuse. Some of the other organizations reported to have received donations from the Bidens in 2023 include Philadelphia's Women's Wellness Space, founded by daughter Ashley Biden, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors for military families, the Fraternal Order of Police Foundation, and Biden's favored Catholic church St. Joseph on the Brandywine in Wilmington, Delaware.

As for Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, they earned $450,299. They paid $88,570 in federal income tax, plus additional sums to California and Washington, DC. They also declared a comparable but somewhat higher amount of charitable contributions than the Bidens, at $23,026, which was about five percent of their income for the year.