Finance

Home page

Finance

Barack and Michelle Obama earnt Â£2.3m less than last year

19 April 2011 08:02 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. President Barack Obama and wife Michelle made significantly less money last year than in 2009, with book sales their main source of income, according to their joint tax return released by the White House, Associated Press reported.

The first family reported an adjusted gross income of $1.7 million (Â£1.06 million) and paid federal taxes of $436,000 (Â£267,800).

This was a decrease of Â£2.3 million from an income of $5.5 million (Â£3.38 million) in 2009.

April 18 was the deadline this year for Americans to file their annual tax returns.

Mr Obama’s Democrats are fighting with Republicans over cutting the US deficit through a mixture of spending cuts and tax hikes, with Mr Obama, a best-selling author, arguing that wealthier Americans like him can afford to pay more in tax.

Specifically, he opposes extending Bush-era tax cuts on families making more than $250,000 a year.