Kamala Harris made $464,500 from her writing last year
Sen. Kamala Harris earned $464,500 from her books last year, as she and her husband reported a total of $3.02 million in taxable income.
The couple paid $1.18 million in federal taxes, or about 39% of their earnings.
Harris, the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate, and husband Douglas Emhoff, a Los Angeles attorney now on leave from his firm, released their 125-page 2019 income tax returns this week.
Joe Biden, the party’s presidential nominee, also released his returns. He and his wife Jill reported $944,737 in taxable income last year. They paid $299,346 in federal income tax.
Their tax bills are in sharp contrast to those reportedly paid by President Donald Trump. The New York Times reported this week that Trump paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years, and his payments in 2016 and 2017 were $750 each year.
Trump Organization attorney Alan Garten told the Times the president has “paid tens of millions of dollars in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes since announcing his candidacy in 2015.” Such taxes could include Social Security, Medicare and other taxes.
The Harris-Emhoff returns are a more traditional tax filing.
Most of the family’s income came from Emhoff’s law practice. He reported making $2.84 million last year.
Harris got $464,500 for her writing, and paid $100,543 in taxes on that income. She released a book, The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, in January, 2019, about two weeks before she declared her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The book describes in detail her political views as well as aspects of her life that helped shape those views.
Harris also wrote Superheroes are Everywhere, a picture book for children that was released last year.
On the tax return, Harris was able to report taxable income on her writings of $264,125. The other $199,675 was deducted for expenses.
As a U.S. senator, Harris reported earning $157,327. Deducted from that amount was $22,809 deducted for federal taxes, $9,472 for state taxes, $8,240 for Social Security tax and $2,407 for Medicare tax.
Together, she and Emhoff claimed $77,431 in itemized deductions.
The couple paid a total of $316,423 in state and local taxes – $258,238 in state and local income tax, $57,738 in state and local property taxes and $447 in personal property tax.
But they were only able to deduct $10,000 in state and local taxes, though, because of the 2017 Trump tax law that limited such deductions.
They paid, and deducted, $32,041 in mortgage interest, and $35,390 in charitable contributions.
Among the donations were $5,000 each to Howard University, Harris’ alma mater as an undergraduate; University of Southern California, where Emhoff graduated from the Gould School of Law in 1990, and the Matthew Silverman Memorial Foundation.
The foundation works to prevent teen suicide by promoting dialogue on mental health between youth, parents and educators.
Harris and Emhoff own three homes, a single family residence in Los Angeles, a condominium in San Francisco and another condominium in Washington.
Harris last year released 15 years of tax returns, dating back to 2004, when she became San Francisco’s district attorney.
This story was originally published September 30, 2020 at 5:16 PM.
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