Some Facts About Hilary’s 2015 Income Tax Return:

Hilary Clinton has made public her income tax returns. I’ve reviewed her 2015 income tax return which is filed jointly with her husband Bill Clinton. The Clinton’s derived most of their income from self-employment activities – speech making and book sales. Only a modest amount of income was earned from passive activities – interest. No dividends or capital gains. Therefore, they did not have the advantage of the capital gains rate. In fact, due to having to also pay the self-employment tax, their effective tax rate was 35.2%.

Income: Total income for the year is $28,336,212 and is comprised of:

• $25,171 of interest income from six bank accounts held at JP Morgan Chase Bank as well as $464 interest earned from tax refunds.
• $93 in W2 Wages for Bill from the Deb Talent Agency. I wonder what that was about.
• $69,557 in state income tax refunds. Because state income taxes are deducted as an itemized deduction, any refunds must be included in income in the subsequent year. This is likely a declaration of their refund from 2014.
• $28,020,811 net self-employment income earned from speaking engagements and sales of books. The expenses deducted looked in line with the type of business reporting. Bill Clinton paid wages as well as a benefit package to his employee(s). Their largest expense was commission payments to the Harry Walker Agency. Bill took a home office deduction. He is entitled to deduct a pro rata share of utilities, repairs and maintenance, property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, mortgage interest, etc. but instead he deducted only $945 in depreciation.
• $3,000 capital loss carryforward from prior years. There were no capital gains transactions on the current year tax return; they did not play the stock market. However, their total capital loss carryforward was $702,540. At three grand a year that will take a long time to be absorbed. However, if they have future capital gains, the loss will be applied against those gains before any tax is levied.
• $223,580 from pensions and other retirement vehicles; the main pension pay out was from GSA (Bill’s retirement pay from his presidency).

Deductions: The Clintons filed Schedule A with their income tax return claiming itemized deductions of $5,159,242, rather than taking the standard deduction. The deductions claimed were:

• $2,819,599 paid in state income taxes
• $104,303 paid in real estate taxes
• $41,883 in mortgage interest on their principal residence
• $3,022,700 in charitable contributions. $3,000,000 was donated to the Clinton Foundation, $2,500 was donated to St. Stephen’s Armenian Apostolic Church, $200 was donated to Hot Springs High School Class of ’64, and $20,000 to First United Methodist Church
• No deductions were claimed for investment advice or tax preparation fees likely because the deductions would not exceed the 2% of AGI (adjusted gross income) ceiling. Also no deduction was claimed for vehicle registration fees. No deduction was claimed for medical expenses. Even if they incurred medical expenses, the ceiling is 7.5% of AGI for those aged 65 or older.