© Rick Friedman/Corbis
After weathering several weeks of pressure from his Republican rivals, Mitt Romney released his tax returns early this morning, revealing that he made $45 million over 2010 and 2011, and he’ll pay 14 or 15 percent of that in taxes.
That may seem like a lot—a $6.2 million dollar check to the IRS is enough to make the average American blush—until you look at Romney’s chief opponent, Newt Gingrich, who raked in $3.2 million in 2010, but clocked in at a 31.7 percent tax rate. The truth is, neither candidate is likely to get a whole lot of sympathy from voters. The annual median income in the U.S. last year was, after all, just a touch above $26,000.
But either way, voters can expect Gingrich (net worth: $6.7 million) to portray Romney (net worth: $250-$270 million, putting him in the top .001 percent of Americans) as an out-of-touch elitist. Much as the Republican candidates portrayed John Kerry (net worth: $240 million) and Barack Obama (net worth: $5 million) as out-of-touch elitists in 2004 and 2008, respectively.
Money in Politics
According to an analysis by 24/7 Wall Street, a handful of US presidents were multi-millionaires, while another handful went bankrupt. When Abe Lincoln died, he owned little more than his single-family home in Illinois. When Herbert Hoover, who presided over the last Great Depression, took office, he was worth about $75 million. (Hoover donated his presidential salary to charity).
And here’s a little tidbit for you: The wealthiest president in history was good ol’ George Washington himself.
According to the 24/7 Wall Street report, the Father of Our Country was worth about $525 million in 2010 dollars – that’s almost twice Romney’s net worth for those of you counting – and is listed among the 100 richest people ever, in relative economic terms. (His wife Martha inherited significant property.) And what’s more? Washington’s presidential salary was equal to 2 percent of the total US budget in 1789. If Mitt, or Newt, or Barack, or anyone else were to make that same ratio, their annual paycheck next year would arrive to tune of $7.7 $77 (!) billion.
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Comments (17)
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Didn’t Clinton have $76mil upon election to his second term?
posted by Dan on 1-24-2012 at 12:46 pm
..”last” great depression. LOL. True.
posted by Brian on 1-24-2012 at 1:00 pm
And somewhere two people are arguing about how their political party cares and relates more to the common man. Keep being suckers people.
posted by They Call Me Bruce on 1-24-2012 at 1:06 pm
been a long time reader but this is the first I had to post. So George Washington had to borrow 10,000 for the stay at Valley Forge from my DeHaven (spelling might be off) family while he never payed back BTW so we can have this great country then he turned around and dyed a millionaire. No wonder I have animosity towards this Land of the “free”. If by chance the descendents did get re-payed by the government (who technically owns the debt) the interest alone would make every member of it a millionaire at least twice over. All we got was a plaque in a church in Valley Forge. Well your welcome for this country that was founded on grand ideals but shady practices. In reality doesn’t sound like much changed. Sorry for the rant but its been eating away for a bit and this post was enough for me to finally say my piece. Have a great day in Cyberland everyone
posted by Jake on 1-24-2012 at 1:07 pm
Maybe both of them will donate their paychecks if they get president… like JFK. Wishful thinking…
posted by Courtney on 1-24-2012 at 1:31 pm
Jake you are a tool. Way to try to insert yourself into history and make yourself seem more important than you are. We are all so grateful for you contribution to our liberty. And if you are still holding a grudge towards this country for a 200+ year debt for which you had nothing to do with, well let me be the first to pay back my portion if you promise to use it on a plane ticket out of the country.
posted by They Call Me Bruce on 1-24-2012 at 1:57 pm
Troll…
posted by Nichole on 1-24-2012 at 2:03 pm
@Jake – If you are going to go on a rant and would like people to take you seriously, try learning how to spell died, repaid, and the proper usage of you’re. You seem to imply that Washington turned himself colors (dyed).
posted by BeardownBB on 1-24-2012 at 2:50 pm
So your a troll if you disagree with the post or another person’s opinion?? Thank God for George Washington, oops, am I not suppose to mention God, anyway…I do believe JFK came from a bit of money himself. Oh, I have always thought the President was a bit under paid.
One more thing, according to USHistory.org “The DeHavens calculated the amount owed their family at more than one hundred billion dollars, but they reported they were willing to accept a “reasonable payment” — and maybe a monument at Valley Forge. This remarkably persistent tradition has been thoroughly debunked by Judith A. Meier, of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, whose genealogical research revealed that there were no DeHavens living in the immediate area until after 1790 and that Jacob DeHaven had never been rich enough to make such a fabulous loan. Still, past experience shows that a DeHaven claim is certain to arise about once every generation.”
posted by Baltotrav on 1-24-2012 at 3:00 pm
@ Jake, totally irrelevant. If it is true, that yes, your family loaned funds to Washington for the stay at Valley Forge then you should be proud that your family assisted in gaining our country’s independence. Many other families gave just as much, if not more (ie, fathers, sons, mothers and daughters) for our fight for independence. Stop whining and be an American.
Oh, and I’m with Bruce, I’ll happily “pay back my portion if you promise to use it on a plane ticket out of the country”.
And Baltotrav, thanks for shedding a bit of light on the DeHaven family. Sounds as though they are all a bunch of fame-grabbing pansies.
God Bless America and those who defend and contribute to our country without asking for anything in return.
Oh, back to the task at hand – Haley, excellent article!
posted by izzi on 1-24-2012 at 3:44 pm
Baltotrav, I said nothing about Jake disagreeing with the author or other posts. There is room for rational, coherent discussion and disagreement on this site. I believe They Call Me Bruce and BeardownBB have pretty much summed up the “trollness” of Jake’s comment. It was a rambling, poorly written/misspelled rant designed to bring attention to himself, and which you actually pointed out is based on a completely false claim.
posted by Nichole on 1-24-2012 at 3:50 pm
Sorry @Nichole…didn’t mean to offend and actually thought you were calling They Call Me Bruce a troll. “Open mouth, insert foot”. I think I’ll go back to using the old meaning of the word, and stick to fishing for real fish. Actually I’m in agreement with BeardownBB…but let me point out, before BeardownBB does, I used ‘your’ instead of ‘you’re’ which I noticed after posting. Good evening
posted by Baltotrav on 1-24-2012 at 4:33 pm
I guess I should have clarified who I was calling a troll. It seems we’re on the same page after all, Baltotrav.
posted by Nichole on 1-24-2012 at 4:46 pm
In pursuit of accuracy, the national median household income was $50,046 according to the 2010 American Community Survey.
posted by Holly on 1-24-2012 at 5:08 pm
Aren’t there more than 100 people worth more than $525 million today?
posted by Cover Man on 1-24-2012 at 6:41 pm
Let’s see, if George got 2%, and the current president gets $400,000/yr, then instead of paying our current pres $7.7 billion how about we set the federal budget at $20 million?
posted by Steve on 1-25-2012 at 11:22 am
They did some Math slightly wrong, the US Budget in 2012 is approximately 3.85 Trillion, 2% of 3.85 Trillion is 77 Billion not 7.7 Billion. [Note: John (and Ami, who emailed) are right. That's quite a decimal error. Tweaked above.]
posted by John on 1-25-2012 at 12:49 pm