Tax Refunds & Advice

If you are following the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, you are well aware that contender Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill have been in the forefront for quite some time. As if there was not already enough information to take in, the Clinton’s tax data was made public last week, and there are a few details that are quite interesting.

Over the last eight years, the two have combined to earn approximately $109 million. This is a huge turnaround from the day that they left the White House in 2001 with tons of debt thanks to mounting legal bills.

Where did all of this money come from? The data shows that approximately $92 million is from speaking and book deals. In 2004, Bill Clinton’s autobiography, My Life, brought in a $15 million advance. To go along with this, the former president is regularly paid in excess of $250,000 for speaking engagements.

During this time frame, the Clintons paid almost $34 million in federal taxes. Luckily for them, they were able to deduct $10.2 million thanks to a rash of charitable contributions.

Jay Carson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, said, “The Clintons have now made public 30 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.”

As you can see, the Clintons are not struggling to stay afloat financially. Not only are they earning tens of millions of dollars per year, but they are giving away quite a bit to charity. With this tax data now available to the public, it will be interesting to see if other presidential hopefuls follow suit with more detailed information of their past earnings.