US President Joe Biden made his tax return public on Monday, an American tradition of transparency at the top of the state. An annual custom, this non-obligatory practice is supposed to maintain the confidence of citizens in their political leaders.
The Bidens received $619,976 in 2023, most of which came from the president's $400,000 salary and his wife Jill Biden's $85,985 compensation. The couple had to pay $146,629 in federal taxes for 2023. “President Biden believes that all tenants of the Oval Office must be open and honest with the American people,” the White House said in a statement. ‘The long tradition of annually releasing presidents' tax returns must continue without interruption,’ she added, a thinly veiled reference to the Trump era. As a candidate and then as president between 2017 and 2021, he refused to follow the tradition. But several of his statements were ultimately released after a battle led by Democrats in Congress. And it emerged that, for several years, Donald Trump paid virtually no income tax.