Joe Biden Releases 2020 Tax Returns

President Joe Biden released his 2020 tax returns on Monday, something his predecessor refused to do despite public pressure. 

Earlier Monday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden’s tax returns would be made public “soon,” telling reporters to “stay tuned.” Bloomberg News first reported on the president’s returns, followed by the White House’s own release.

Biden’s income fell drastically, from nearly $1 million in 2019 to $607,336 in 2020, as he dropped paid speaking engagements in order to campaign. His income is still high enough that he would pay the higher tax rates he proposed for wealthier Americans.

The Bidens paid $157,414 in federal income tax last year, and reported holding cash and investments totaling between $1.2 million and $2.88 million, according to their financial disclosure filed with the Office of Government Ethics. The total is down from their last filing, according to Bloomberg.

Monday was the official deadline to file 2020 federal taxes. The filing and payment deadline was originally April 15, but the IRS postponed it to May 17 in order to give individual filers and tax preparers more time to sift through tax changes as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Former President Donald Trump remains the only president since the Watergate era to refuse to release his tax returns. He repeatedly claimed that he could not make his returns public because he was being audited.

Psaki told reporters on Monday that Biden would make his tax returns public even if he were audited, “as should be expected of every president of the United States.” IRS policy requires that every president’s tax returns be audited.

The New York Times published a scathing report in September that included records of Trump’s tax returns, showing that he did not pay any federal income tax in 10 of the last 15 years, and that he paid only $750 the year he was elected president and another $750 during his first year in office.

The Times report came just days before Biden, then a presidential candidate, released his 2019 tax returns. Those returns showed that he paid almost $300,000 in federal taxes and had an adjusted gross income of about $985,000.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, also released their 2020 federal income tax return, as well as state income tax returns for California and Washington, D.C. Like Biden, Harris also released her public financial disclosure report.

They reported a federal adjusted gross income of $1,695,225, and paid $621,893 in federal income tax. They also paid $125,004 in California income tax, and Emhoff paid $56,997 in District of Columbia income tax.

View Biden’s 2020 tax returns here: