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Obama's Tax Returns

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from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008, at 6:40 PM ET

Calling on his opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, to do the same, today Barack Obama posted on his campaign website's "answer center" 103 pages of federal and Illinois state tax returns covering the years 2000 through 2006. In addition to the basic 1040 forms, Obama (occupation: US SENATOR) and his wife Michelle Obama (occupation: HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATOR) also released copies of attachments reflecting that they withhold Social Security taxes for household help and claim tax credits for child care expenses (the Obamas have 2 daughters, Malia and Natasha). The campaign redacted private information from the returns, such as the family's Social Security numbers and home address.

The last two years have been prosperous for the Obamas. As recently as 2004, their income was a relatively modest $200,000 (see pages 8-9), but the would-be first couple's most recent income tax return (see below and on the following page) shows that their combined salaries (more than $430,700), when paired with Obama's royalty earnings as an author (another $500,000), brought their adjusted gross income to well over $900,000 (see Pages 3-7.)

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from: Bonnie Goldstein

Posted Tuesday, March 25, 2008, at 6:40 PM ET
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Bonnie Goldstein is a former special investigator to the U.S. Senate and investigative producer for ABC News.
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