Apropos to the upcoming April 15th tax filing
deadline, President Obama and his wife, Michelle, have disclosed their 2013 tax returns. They paid a total of $98 thousand in federal
taxes on an income of $482 thousand (a tax rate of 20.4%). Their refund totaled
a little north of $19 thousand which they applied to this year’s estimated
taxes … see: CBS Story . They also generously gave $59 thousand
to various charities.
All well and good. However, the fundamental issue that I
have with this disclosure is … what about the hundreds of thousands, if not millions
of dollars of benefits-in-kind that this duo receives from the U.S, taxpayers when they
and their extended family and guests indulge themselves with their many
globe-trotting vacations ... that are not part of official business. This includes
Air Force One and Marine One travel, the most luxurious hotel accommodations, five-star dining … and all the many other accouterments that they feel that they deserve
… see: China Blossom for just the first quarter of 2014’s junkets.
I realize that the first family
receives a $100 thousand tax-free travel reimbursement as part of the
President’s benefit package … but this is but a drop in the bucket relative to
what they obviously palm off on us taxpayers. Where is this full-disclosure accounting
for these sums?
I do believe that President Obama must have a friend at the
Internal Revenue Service.
