UPDATE 1-Biden and his wife report $620,000 income in 2023 tax returns

(Adds White House and Trump comment, paragraphs 6-7)

By Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON, April 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill on Monday released tax returns showing that their income rose 7% to $619,976 in 2023 and that the couple paid 23.7% of their income in federal taxes.

Biden released the data on the day U.S. taxes for the prior year are due, and as the Democrat seeks re-election in 2024.

Donald Trump, his Republican opponent, broke with the tradition of presidents making their federal tax returns public, saying he was not able to do so while being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, even as the agency claimed he was free to release them.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee controlled in 2022 by Democrats released Trump’s redacted returns for 2015 through 2020 over the former president’s objections.

Trump was in a New York courtroom on Monday for a historic criminal trial, one of several legal matters that has implicated the ex-president’s personal finances.

“President Biden believes that all occupants of the Oval Office should be open and honest with the American people, and that the longstanding tradition of annually releasing presidential tax returns should continue unbroken,” the White House said in a statement.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a post on social media on Monday, Trump said American families benefited from tax cuts passed while he was in office. He said if Biden “gets his way” people would be facing “colossal” tax increases. He included no information about his 2023 tax filing.

Biden and his wife earned four-fifths of their income from their jobs as U.S. president and teacher at Northern Virginia Community College, respectively. Joe Biden drew a $400,000 wage, while Jill Biden earned $85,985 from her job teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College.

The additional income was drawn from interest on investments, pensions and a corporate entity that collects the couple’s book royalties. Most of the increase of income relative to 2022 was from interest paid on one of the couple’s bank accounts, according to the tax return.

The proportion of Joe Biden’s income that went to federal taxes was roughly equal to the prior year.

Biden plans to deliver a speech on tax policy from his Scranton, Pennsylvania, birthplace on Tuesday that is expected to include a call for the wealthy to pay higher rates. Pennsylvania is expected to be one of the most closely contested 2024 election states in November.

The president’s return also showed that Biden donated $20,477 to charity, roughly 3.3% of their income, with the beneficiaries including several churches and public health groups like the Epilepsy Foundation and the Fraternal Order of Police.

Biden’s running mate Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Douglas Emhoff, also released a tax return showing $450,380 income for 2023, federal taxes of $88,570 and charitable donations of $23,026. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; additional reporting by Kanishka Singh and Nathan Layne; editing by Costas Pitas)

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