Biden releases tax returns showing his income fell in 2020

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Joe Biden has released his tax returns showing his income fell sharply during 2020 as he ran for president and won the White House.

The president’s income fell from nearly $1m in 2019 to $607,336 in 2020 as he dropped high-paying speaking engagements to take on and defeat Donald Trump.

But Mr Biden still earned enough money to pay the higher-rate of tax his administration has proposed for the wealthiest Americans.

The IRS deadline for tax filing in the United States was Monday, after being shifted from its normal date of 15 April to 17 May because of tax changes and the pandemic.

Donald Trump became the first president since the 1970s to not voluntarily release his tax returns, claiming he could not do so as he was under audit.

Being under audit does not prevent any individual from releasing their taxes.

The Bidens paid $157,414 in federal income tax last year, a rate of 25.9 per cent, and reported holding cash and investments totalling between $1.2m and $2.88m, according to their financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics.

Last September The New York Times reported that Mr Trump did not pay any federal income tax in 10 of the last 15 years, and that he paid only $750 in 2016 and another $750 during his first year in the White House.

Vice president Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff had a federal adjusted gross income in 2020 of $1,695,225, most of which came from Mr Emhoff’s work as a lawyer at DLA Piper.

The couple paid $621,893 in federal income tax, a rate of 36.7 per cent.

Their income was down from 2019 as Mr Emhoff paused his law work in August and left the law firm in November.

The White House took a shot at Mr Trump by stating that Mr Biden’s release of his 2020 tax return continued “an almost uninterrupted tradition” of doing so.