Hillary Clinton released her tax returns for 2000-2007 today. The Clintons made $109 million over the eight-year period. They contributed about 10 percent of it to charity. Another 30 percent or so went to the government in taxes.
About half of the $109 million consisted of speaking fees for Bill. Most of the rest came as the result of their books, primarily the two by Bill.
Good for them, I say.
JOHN adds: I’m generally happy to see people get rich, but there is something a bit odd about Hillary calling for a cabinet-level poverty czar on the same day she disclosed that she and Bill are making around $15 million a year. Hillary said today:
I believe we should appoint a cabinet level position that will be solely and fully devoted to ending poverty as we know it in America. A position that will focus the attention of our nation on the issue and never let it go. A person who I could see being asked by the president every single day what have you done to end poverty in America? No more excuses.
For someone so dedicated to ending poverty–no more excuses!–Hillary hasn’t exactly been single-minded about devoting her own wealth toward that end. The Clintons’ charitable contributions have been modest, given their resources. What’s more, their tax returns, as far as I’ve seen, don’t itemize their charitable contributions, so there is no way to know what proportion of those contributions could plausibly be related to poverty.
It’s generally characteristic of liberals that when they talk about mobilizing “our” resources to end poverty, they mean your money, not theirs.
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