Obama Puts Own Tax Money Where His Mouth Is
Senator and Mrs. Obama earned $4,200,000 in 2007, paying $1.4M - 33% - in tax. That’s refreshing, since the Senator’s Presidential platform likely includes tax increases on other ‘rich’ people. At 33%, he’s paying among the highest effective rates of the citizenry. [His haul was mostly earned income on book sales].
Contrast this with the richer Clintons, who paid ‘only’ 25% of their considerably larger $20.4M 2007 income. Granted, it’s not the Clinton’s fault they’ve built up a portfolio kicking out tax-favored capital gains. It’s just one of those little quirks reflecting positively on Obama - he’s got a lot of skin in the game of progressive tax increases.
