How Much Is President Joe Biden Worth As He Seeks Re-Election?
President Joe Biden announced his bid for re-election Tuesday, April 25, via a video message on Twitter, asking Americans to let him finish the job he started when he was first elected.
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“Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.” reads his tweet.
As he looks to the future, questions continue to swirl around his son, Hunter Biden, regarding the possibility of tax evasion, wire fraud and other potential crimes, and Biden could face difficult financial questions.
At the age of 80, President Joe Biden is the oldest man to occupy the Oval Office. He has had a full lifetime to build his net worth, with much of it coming in the past decade.
Joe Biden’s Net Worth
While still serving as vice president, his net worth was $2.5 million, but in the years between holding political office his net worth shot up to $8 million, according to Forbes. Celebrity Net Worth pegs Biden’s estimated net worth at $9 million, however.
Along with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, Biden owns two Delaware homes valued at about $4 million combined, and they have cash and investments worth an additional $4 million and a federal pension worth over $1 million, Forbes reported. These figures are approximate, and they may account for the discrepancy between the two above estimates.
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Although Biden has made a steady income as a politician, the majority of his wealth has come from book deals and speaking fees. Biden’s starting salary in the Senate was $42,500 a year in 1973; when he left the Senate in 2009, he was making $169,300. As vice president, his salary shot up to $230,700 and he’s earning $400,000 as president.
Biden’s first memoir, “Promises to Keep,” earned him $71,000 in royalties and $9,500 for audiobook rights around the time of its publication in 2008. But that’s little compared to what he has earned since leaving his first stint in the White House. From 2017 to 2019, the Bidens earned more than $15 million, according to tax filings reviewed by Forbes. That includes a reportedly $8 million second book deal, $1.8 million from book tour events, $2.4 million in speaking fees and $775,000 from the University of Pennsylvania (to lead the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement as the Benjamin Franklin presidential professor of practice).
Joe Biden’s Political Career
Biden was elected to the Senate from the state of Delaware in 1972 when he was 29, becoming one of the youngest senators in history. His first wife, Neilia, and young daughter, Naomi, were killed in an automobile accident only weeks after his election — an event that influenced his decision to commute to the Senate by train.
During his time in the Senate, Biden presided over several governmental committees, serving as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He ran for the presidency twice before successfully doing so, first in 1988 and again in 2008. Biden served as vice president under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017. He started his term as president of the United States on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2021.
Some of Biden’s political highlights include:
1990: Introduced the bill that became the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), which addressed domestic abuse and violence.
2002: Voted to authorize military intervention in Iraq, but later criticized the conflict.
2010: Assisted in the passing of the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
2020: Elected president of the United States.
2021: Signed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure package to improve roads, bridges and public transportation.
2022: Signed Respect for Marriage Act, which guarantees the federal government will recognize and protect interracial and LGBTQ+ marriages.
Joe Biden’s Tax Returns
The Bidens released their 2022 tax returns on April 18, giving the public a glimpse of the couple’s earnings.
They had two primary sources of income: Biden’s $400,000 salary as president and the first lady’s $82,335 in pay as an educator at Northern Virginia Community College, where she first worked after her husband became vice president. Their joint federal income tax return shows adjusted gross income of $579,514 when other sources were added, including money from Social Security, pensions and annuities, taxable interest and other smaller line items.
The Bidens paid $169,820 in combined taxes to the federal government, Delaware and Virginia, with a federal income tax rate of 23.8%, according to the White House. Still, after withholdings, the Bidens owed the federal government $4,632. The good news? They were due refunds of $846 from Virginia and $10 from Delaware.
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Jami Farkas, Sean Dennison and Michelle Tompkins contributed to the reporting for this article.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: How Much Is President Joe Biden Worth As He Seeks Re-Election?
