Saturday, April 5, 2008

Clinton releases tax returns

Clinton had been under mounting pressure to release her tax records before the Pennsylvania primary.
Clinton had been under mounting pressure to release her tax records before the Pennsylvania primary.

(CNN) — Hillary Clinton released her tax returns for the years 2000 to 2006 late Friday afternoon, ending weeks of speculation over her delay in making them public.

“The Clintons have now made public thirty years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service,” spokesman Jay Carson said in a statement. “None of Hillary Clinton's presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.”

The campaign said the records showed Bill and Hillary Clinton had paid more than $33.7 million in federal taxes on a joint income of $109 million and donated $10.2 million to charities over the past eight years.

The New York senator had initially said that she would not release them unless she was the Democratic nominee. But at a debate shortly before the March 4 primaries, she said she would consider releasing them "even earlier," though she did not name a precise date.

"I will certainly work toward releasing them, and we will get that done and in the public domain," said Clinton.

Later, she pledged to release the documents by this year's April 15 tax filing deadline. But ten days ago, following Obama's decision to release his tax returns of this decade, and attacks from his campaign over Clinton's delay in making her own public, she announced that she would release the returns within the week.

The Obama campaign's criticism centered on Clinton's decision to lend her campaign $5 million earlier this year, along with former President Bill Clinton's $20 million payout from supermarket holding company Yucaipa.

In conference calls with reporters, Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson accused the Obama campaign of unfounded negative attacks over the delay, noting that there were "20 years of Clinton tax returns in the public record."

The tax returns are the second of three batches of documents Clinton has come under pressure to release. Her scheduling records that date to her time as First Lady were released late last month. The list of major donors to the Clinton Presidential Library has yet to be released.

(Full statement below; complete returns are available here.)

Hillary and Bill Clinton Tax Returns
Statement of Jay Carson
Clinton Campaign Spokesman
April 4, 2008

Today Senator Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton are releasing their tax returns for the years 2000 through 2006, and are providing information regarding their 2007 taxes as well.

The Clintons have now made public thirty years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service. None of Hillary Clinton's presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.

What the Clintons' tax returns show is that they paid more than $33,000,000 in federal taxes and donated more than $10,000,000 to charities over the past eight years. They paid taxes and made charitable contributions at a higher rate than taxpayers at their income level.

TAXES PAID: $33,783,507

The Clintons paid $33,783,507 in federal taxes - 31% of their adjusted gross income. According to the most recent data available from the IRS, in 2005 taxpayers earning $10,000,000 or more paid on average 20.8% of their adjusted gross income in taxes.

CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS: $10,256,741

The Clintons donated $10,256,741 to charity - 9.5% of their adjusted gross income. According to the most recent data available from the IRS, in 2005 taxpayers earning $10,000,000 or more contributed 3.1% of their adjusted gross income in cash contributions to charity. Information about the Clinton Family Foundation, including a list of charities to which the Clintons contributed through the Foundation, is available online in the Foundation's publicly available tax returns (www.foundationcenter.org).

AFTER TAX EARNINGS: $57,157,297

CUMULATIVE TOTAL(GROSS) INCOME: $109,175,175

Including, among other items:

Senator Clinton's Senate Salary: $1,051,606
President Clinton's Presidential Pension: $1,217,250
Senator Clinton's Book Income: $10,457,083
President Clinton's Book Income: $29,580,525
President Clinton's Speech Income: $51,855,599

SENATOR CLINTON'S BOOK INCOME: $10,457,083

Senator Clinton's book income is comprised of earnings for Living History ($10,267,895), including an $8,000,000 advance, and It Takes a Village ($189,188). The earnings for It Takes a Village were donated to charity. Since the release of It Takes a Village in 1996, Senator Clinton has donated over $1,100,000 to charity.

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S BOOK INCOME: $29,580,525

President Clinton's book income is comprised of earnings for My Life ($23,280,525), including a $15,000,000 advance, and Giving ($6,300,000). The President donated $1,000,000 of his income from Giving in 2007 to charity.

PRESIDENT CLINTON'S SPEECH INCOME: $51,855,599

NOTE: The figures in this summary include 2007 estimates.

Annual tax information is available for download below:

2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007
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