As the 2024 presidential election in the United States approaches, the public wants to learn more about the presidential candidates, including the presidential candidates from Democrats. One of the things that they want to know is their tax returns. The reason why they want to find out about these things is to oversee the presidential candidates and to measure how honest and transparent they are. In this post, the tax records of the contenders from Democrats will be unveiled. Make sure to check everything below.
Democrats Presidential Candidates
According to the New York Times, there are currently three presidential candidates from the Democrats party as of April 25, 2024. They include:
1. Joe Biden
The current President of the United States, Joe Biden, announced his candidacy for re-election for a second and final time as president of the country. The news was announced on April 25, 2023. Just like the last time, the current Vice President, Kamala Harris, will also accompany him. If he wins this election, he would break his own record becoming the oldest president inaugurated. Besides, the man would also be the second two-term vice president to be chosen as the president twice since Rochard Nixon in 1972.
Joe Biden has some his campaign positions, which include:
-
- Protect things like Social Security and Medicare.
- Specify the cost of insulin at $35 per month for every American.
- Veto a national abortion ban in case one makes it through Congress.
- Protect democracy and ensure that the country will not lose its nation’s traditions, such as opening elections.
- Keep providing aid and assistance to Ukraine to keep Russian aggression at bay.
- Close tax loopholes, make the “wealthiest and the biggest corporations begin to pay their fair share” with a billionaire minimum tax; “quadruple the tax on corporate stock buybacks to encourage long-term investments instead”; ensure that anyone who earns below $400,000 a year will not get a tax increase.
2. Marianne Williamson
Marianne Williamson announced her campaign for the 2024 United States presidential election on March 4, 2023. The woman that is known as an author and political activist was the major Democratic candidate to officially announce their participation in the race because the incumbent President Joe Biden did not tell the public about his re-election bid until April 2023.
Actually, the campaign of Williamson was suspended on February 7, 2024 because she lost in the New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada Democratic primaries. However, she then decided to retract her campaign suspension and officially announced to rejoin the race 21 days after announcing the suspension. The reason why she rejoined the race is because she came third in the Michigan Democratic primary. At that time, the woman was ahead of Dean Phillips, whose campaign was still active at the time. In early April, she stated her intention to again suspend active campaigning by the end of April.
Just like other presidential candidates, Williamson also has campaign positions, as follows:
-
- “Vigorously resist any effort to restrict, limit, or diminish the reproductive rights and freedoms granted by Roe v. Wade.”
- “Declare a national emergency around the gun violence epidemic”; “eliminate the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, ban bump stocks, high-capacity magazines, and 3-D printing of firearms.”
- Legalize “cannabis and psychedelics used for both recreational and medical purposes”; expunge past convictions.
- “Reach 100 percent renewable energy and dramatically reduce CO2 (carbon) emissions by 2035 or earlier.”
3. Jason Palmer
On November 10, 2023, an American entrepreneur and investor named Jason Palmer announced his bid to enter the 2024 presidential race. The man has been in the business for years. With his experiences, he aims to make the world better. In order to do that, he is also learning from some of the most globally respected and effective organizations in the United States.
The reason why Palmer is joining the race is because he believes that there is no way for America to progress forward by seeking refuge in the past. He is committed to pass the torch of democracy to a new generation. Just like many citizens of the United States, the politician thinks that the country needs a new system or needs to update the old system to be able to move forward. Here is the full statement he released:
“Like me, many of you are devastated that our system has become so broken. Many running for higher office refuse to challenge the antiquated status quo and none of them possess the digital fluency needed for 2024 and beyond. And so, I offer myself as a next-generation innovator, speaking truth-to-power candidate. I am focused on people-first, led by my Quaker convictions that people matter more than anything. I believe we must listen to and invest in young people, which is why upgrading our nation’s education-to-workforce system is the main theme across my policy pillars. Although I am a Democrat, a lot of my positions also sound Republican. My campaign is rooted in conscious capitalism, modernizing our government, and harnessing America’s talent on the global stage. I have been called the purple candidate and embrace the moniker proudly since I firmly believe our platform’s values can and should transcend party affiliation. These are American values, not party values. Period.”
Jason Palmer surprised the public when he won the Democratic caucus in American Samoa over President Joe Biden, becoming the first presidential candidate to win a territory while running against the incumbent president in a presidential primary since 1980 when Ted Kennedy won against Jimmy Carter in 13 contests. Many were surprised and did not accept his victor because he is a lesser-known candidate.
In American Samoa’s Democratic caucuses, there were only 91 votes, 51 of them went to Palmer while Biden only got 40. Even though it does not mean anything and has almost no effect on the eventual Democratic nomination, Parmer has used it as a chance to emphasize the need for generational change as Biden is already old. He said that he could be a younger alternative and can offer perspective from the outsider because he has spent most of his time in the business field instead of the government environment. However, he is aware that his chance of winning is very small. On his campaign website, it is stated that the main focus is not winning but on ideas, solutions, and changing the conversation.
On April 15, 2024, Jason Palmer effectively ended his campaign by endorsing President Joe Biden. However, he said that he was not formally ending it because the man was trying to negotiate a role at the Democratic convention.
Read also: How to Find Out Where’s My IRS Refund
Tax Returns of Democrats Presidential Candidates
Anyone who wants to know the tax returns of Democrats presidential candidates can read the following:
1. Joe Biden
On April 15, 2023, the White House released the 2023 federal income tax return of President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden. Here is the link where you will be able to find their 2024 tax return: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/POTUS-2023-tax-returns-SIGNED-REDACTED.pdf
According to the document, President Joe Biden and his wife earned $619,976 in 2023. For anyone who is wondering about their income, most of them came from President Biden’s salary of $400,000, along with pensions. His wife also contributed $85,985 from her job as a teacher at Northern Virginia Community College.
Besides, it is also known that they paid $146,629 in federal income tax, with an effective income tax rate of 23.7%. In the same tax return, it can also be seen that they paid a total of $30,908 in Delaware income tax. Plus, the first lady also spent $3,549 in her pocket in Virginia income tax.
In addition, it is also reported that the couple donated a total of $20,477 to 17 different charities, including to a public charity dedicated to ensuring that every child is free from the threat of abuse named the Beau Biden Foundation, St. Joseph on the Brandywine, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors or TAPS, the National Fraternal Order of Police Foundation, and so on.
2. Marianne Williamson
It is not easy to find the tax returns of Marianne Williamson. During the 2020 presidency, she released tax returns for some years, except for 2018. However, the only one found on the internet is the one from 2017. As reported by the New York Times, here is the information about her 2017 tax return:
-
- Adjusted gross income in 2017: $827,428
- Percentile: Top 1 percent
- Total tax: $277,201
- Effective tax rate: 34%
- Filing status: Single
Marianne Williamson is a well-known author. She has released a number of best-seller books, including A Return to Love that remained at the top of the best-seller list for 39 weeks and has continued to sell for decades. From her job as an author, she has earned a lot of money. According to the documents she released before her presidential run in 2020, she generated $7.5 million in revenue from 2013 to 2017. As reported by Forbes, her net worth is estimated to be US$2.5 million, increasing by about $1 million in four years.
Even though Williamson is known to earn a lot, it does not mean she is really rich because she is considered a big spender. It is reported that she spent $41,000 on clothing and $276,000 on travel costs over five years. Around that period, she spent most of her money when running for Congress in California in 2014. According to the Federal Election Commission, the politician spent more than $550,000 in contributions and loans. As she lost the race, she lost about $400,000.
After her announcement of joining the presidency race in February 2023, Williamson also has spent money. She has spent $6,000 from her pocket on her campaign. After that, she lent another $220,000.
Even though Williamson has spent many, she has some liquid assets, the ones that she can sell anytime in case she needs to cover any expenses. According to the financial disclosure report she filed in June, she has more than $841,000 of mutual-fund investments in addition to more than $250,000 in cash. Apart from that, the woman also has shares of some individual companies, including Home Depot, Alphabet, and Apple.
3. Jason Palmer
For those who are curious about the tax returns of Jason Palmer, unfortunately they are nowhere to be found.
Button Line
In conclusion, the presidential candidates from Democrats always want to allow the public to see their taxes for transparency. From their tax returns, the public can see their salaries from government positions, including serving as a government or senator. Aside from that, they can also find their salaries from other sources, such as from investment and writing books. According to the tax returns shown in recent years, most of them earned more than a vast majority of American households.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
