Clintons' earnings exceed $100m

April 5, 2008 0

hillarymoneymachine Clintons' earnings exceed $100m
Since 2000, the former first couple took in nearly $110m, with more than $20m made in 2007, and gave more than $10m to charity in the same period. Almost half of the income was made from the former president’s speeches.

Sen Clinton had been under pressure to release her returns since rival Barack Obama disclosed his for 2000-2006. Both Sen Obama and John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, have said they will reveal their 2007 returns later this month.

“The Clintons have now made public 30 years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service,” said Jay Carson, a Clinton campaign spokesman. The former first couple last disclosed their earnings in 2000. “None of Hillary Clinton’s presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information.”

The Clintons paid around $34m in taxes between 2000 and 2007, their returns show. The last time the former first couple publicised their finances was in 2000 – the year they left the White House. In that year they reported a gross income of $416,000.

Since leaving office, though, Bill Clinton has given speeches around the world, as well as becoming involved in numerous business ventures. He has also made $30m from his two books, My Life and Giving.

For her part, Mrs Clinton made more than $10m from her book Living History. She donated all the proceeds from another work, It Takes a Village, to charity. Although the New York senator revealed highlights of tax returns from 2007, she requested an extension for their full disclosure, citing the need for more information on a blind trust dissolved last year.

As For Obama & McCain

Last week Mr Obama published seven years of tax returns on his website. The data showed he earned nearly $1 million in 2006, nearly half of it coming from the publication of his second book, The Audacity of Hope.

In previous financial disclosures, Sen McCain has listed his primary sources of income as his Senate salary of $170,000 and his Naval pension of around $56,000.

Although Mr McCain’s wife is heiress to a stake in Hensley & Co, one of the largest beer distributorships in the US – reportedly worth more than $100 million – a prenuptial agreement means most of her assets are kept in her name.

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