Obamas’ federal tax debt declines with book sales

WASHINGTON – Amid an aggressive campaign on what he calls “tax fairness,” President Barack Obama’s own tax burden in 2011 was the lowest of his time in the White House.

The president and first lady reported a joint adjusted gross income of $789,674 last year and paid $162,074 in total federal taxes, or about 20.5 percent.

The Obamas’ income was about $1 million less than what they reported in 2010, owing to less income from proceeds of the president’s books. With a lower share of income taxed at the higher rate, his tax burden dropped from past years. In 2010 he paid about 26 percent of his adjusted gross income in federal taxes. The previous two years his burden was more than 32 percent.

Tax documents also show that the president paid $31,941 in state income tax in Illinois.

The Obamas donated $172,130 to charity, or about 22 percent of their adjusted gross income. The largest beneficiary was the Fisher House Foundation, which received $117,130 – the after-tax proceeds of his children’s book, “Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters.”

As it released the first family’s full tax returns, which it has done at the same time each year they have been in the White House, the White House made note of the administration’s push for the so-called Buffett Rule that would seek to ensure the tax rate of the wealthiest Americans is at least as much as the middle class.

Spokesman Jay Carney noted that under the president’s own plan, he himself “would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it.”

Just after the 2011 returns were posted by the White House, the Obama campaign issued a statement calling on Mitt Romney to reveal his tax burden.

Romney spokesman Andrea Saul described the Obama campaign complaint as a “sideshow” and a distraction from the issues important to voters. Romney already has released his 2010 return and an estimate of 2011 taxes, she said. “He will release his full 2011 return when it is filed.”