US PRESIDENT Barack Obama and his wife earned US$1.7 million (S$2.1 million) last year, a significant drop from the prior year as sales of the president’s books slowed, according to tax documents released on Monday.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama reported 2010 adjusted gross income of US$1,728,096, down from US$5.5 million in 2009.
While the salary for US president is US$395,000 annually, ‘the vast majority of the family’s income is the proceeds from the sale of the president’s books’, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.
Mr Obama earned US$1.38 million in 2010 from sales of his books, The Audacity Of Hope, Dreams From My Father, and Of Thee I Sing: A Letter To My Daughters. That’s down from nearly US$5.2 million in books’ revenue from 2009.
Of Thee I Sing is a children’s book released last year, and Mr Obama has pledged to donate after-tax proceeds to the Fisher House scholarship fund for children of fallen and disabled US military personnel.
The Obamas reported US$2.6 million in adjusted gross income for 2008.