Who cares?
How's that for moving up in the world?
Maybe vacation rentals should be taxed to pay for healthcare?
Obamas rent Republican's $20 million house on Martha's Vineyard
Barack Obama and his family will spend their August holiday on a $20 million (£12.5 million), 28-acre farm, complete with an apple orchard, private beach and even a basketball court to satisfy the president's sporting needs.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Published: 10:04PM BST 28 Jul 2009
Previous
1 of 2 Images
Next
Obama Family Vacation Rental The Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark.
Inside Blue Heron Farm, The White House have confirmed that the president had settled on the Massachusetts island for his holiday.
According to local reports, similar rental properties on the exclusive Martha's Vineyard island cost between $35,000 (£21,875) and $50,000 ($31,250) a week.
Contracts for the Blue Heron Farm show three leases for Mr Obama, the Secret Service and White House staff, with the president expected to cover his family's bill. Consisting of four buildings, the complex in Chilmark, a quieter part of the island, should have room for all.
The property is owned by William Van Devender, a Mississippi timber merchant who is a major donor to the Republican Party.
The White House had earlier confirmed that the president had settled on the Massachusetts island for his first holiday in office, but had attempted to keep the precise location secret.
Earlier speculation had put the family in the town of Oak Bluffs, which is home to a prominent African-American community that includes Henry Louis Gates Jr and e Lee.
The impending arrival of Mr Obama, his wife Mic e, their two daughters and pet dog Bo for a one-week stay is causing considerable excitement even in a place accustomed to celebrity tourists.
As the Obamas prepared for a bit of time out of the Washington spotlight, the White House released what it said was definitive proof that the 44th US president is an American citizen.
State officials in Hawaii on Monday said they had once again checked and confirmed that Mr Obama was born in Hawaii and is a natural-born US citizen, and therefore meets a key cons utional requirement for being president.
A vocal group of conspiracy theorists known as "birthers" had claimed that the United States' first African-American president was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and was thus ineligible for office.
It's summer-no basketball. Why not?
They could already afford that years ago.
Nice display of class envy by you, though.
I just don't care that it's expensive. He's the president. I may not like him, but the job does have certain perks. I'm not one to complain about the money he spends, or the cost of security that goes with being president. I see the thread as just another useless thread attempting to cause fighting.
There are classes in this country, and the present arrangement makes it likely that those will be more static than in the last 4 or 5 decades.
Not really. Just a little summer fun. By the way, he only started making some really good money in 2005 when his book money came in.
Obamas release 2008 tax return
The first family's income dropped to $2.7 million from $4.2 million the previous year. The president and first lady paid $855, 323 in federal taxes.
By John McCormick
April 16, 2009
Reporting from Chicago — The first family released its 2008 federal tax return today, showing household income dropping to $2.7 million, from $4.2 million the previous year.
But while many Americans had a bad financial year, President Obama recorded a net profit from book sales of $2.5 million, according to a copy of the tax return released this afternoon by the White House.
He and First Lady Mic e Obama paid $855,323 in federal taxes, while making $172,050 in charitable contributions to 37 different charities. The largest reported gifts were $25,000 to both the United Negro College Fund and the relief organization CARE. "The president sold a lot of books last year, no doubt, and paid a hefty amount in federal income tax," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
As president, Obama now is paid $400,000 a year.
Vice President Joe Biden and wife Jill reported adjusted gross income of $269,256 from salaries from the U.S. Senate, Widener University and Delaware Technical & Community College and royalties from the audio rights to the vice president's book. They paid $46,952 in federal income taxes.
A year ago, then-President George W. Bush reported taxable income of $719,274 for the 2007 tax year. He and Laura Bush paid $221,635 in federal income taxes that year.
The Obamas contributed $6 in 2008 to the federal fund that provides public financing of presidential campaigns, a program the Democratic nominee bypassed himself.
The first family's personal wealth has soared over the last few years, following the same trajectory of Obama's rapid political rise.
Their annual household income fluctuated around the $250,000 mark during the first half of this decade, before his election to the U.S. Senate in 2004. Millions in book royalties and advances started rolling in during 2005.
Before entering the Senate, Obama signed two book deals worth nearly $2.3 million. He received about $1.2 million of the advance money in 2005, helping the couple afford their purchase that year of a $1.65-million house in Chicago's Kenwood neighborhood.
From 1997 through 2004, Obama earned dual paychecks for his work as a state lawmaker and as a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.
Over the same period, Mic e Obama worked first for the University of Chicago and then for the University of Chicago Hospitals. Their household income was also augmented in most years by thousands of dollars that her husband earned from practicing law, giving speeches and serving as a director of charitable foundations.
The Obamas have only recently dug deeply into their own pockets to support charitable causes. In 2002, the year before Obama launched his U.S. Senate campaign, the couple reported income of $259,394 and $1,050 in deductions for gifts to charity, below the national average of $1,872.
[email protected]
Obama earns hundreds of thousands of dollars every year from the federal government, obviously dude belongs to the rich class and can afford a week of vacation only costing half as the yearly income of a mid-level american worker. Anyway dude can't have so many weeks every year to spend on vacation, and it's rational for a millionaire like Obama to spend 1 million or some every year on tour.
It's not as if you have to post if you don't like the thread.
So my statement is true.By the way, he only started making some really good money in 2005 when his book money came in.
That's what Obama earns as his salary, no dime of the money spent on vacations comes from tax payer dollars. Obama, as any other common american citizen, has the rights to spend his earning on whatever he wants as long as it doesn't break the law.
Congratulations
Quite impressive.
I'm not even sick of an alien being the president if dude can make america better than ever. Obama has also got such an ambition to bring US back to prosperity and make it greater than it has ever been, but dude has got to bring US out of troubles at first, which is still a mission remaining unresolved.As the Obamas prepared for a bit of time out of the Washington spotlight, the White House released what it said was definitive proof that the 44th US president is an American citizen.
and how many of those charitable donations get funneled back into his estate where it becomes tax free income? nothing beats tax avoidance if you know ur way around it....lmao....
rich get richer...get rich or die trying....
so is he footing the bill or the tax payer?
I bet it is the tax payer and his salary is not going towards his vaction
It's right there in the article.... with the president expected to cover his family's bill.
Not entirely true. Obama is paying for his family, yes, but the taxpayer still pays the exhoribitant rates for the Secret Service and WH Staff that goes along with him.
No big deal though. He can take whatever vacation he wants, since it's not like he can actually say no to the SS and WH staff accompaniment.
I bet the ranch in Crawford was a lot cheaper!
I don't see why this is a big deal to anyone except gossipers. Do you? For personal expenditures, I'll bet you're right. It seems to me that the Obama's should have just bought their own nice place, instead of renting, but that's their business.
Guy's, give the man a break on his personal life.
........and?
My only question is:
Did the Clintons claim their vacation rentals that were donated on their tax returns?
The IRS might need to talk to them; maximum gift = $10K
Obama?
If you got it, spend it. (also good to see he's gotten his charitable giving up to respectable levels; what it was before he ran for Senate was a disgrace.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)