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| Per dollar the average American earned, Reagan earned: $20.89 Candidate income: $423,000 Average American income: $20,252 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $129,000 Effective tax rate: 30.5% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| After a president leaves office, it’s his chance to leave the relatively low-paying world of public service and start bringing in some serious coin, whether through book royalties, business ventures, or speaking fees (Bill Clinton made more than $13 million talking last year alone). But what about the candidates vying for the most important job in America—how do they, and specifically their earnings, compare to the average American? To find out how candidates’ earnings matched up to Main Street’s, The Daily Beast started by examining adjusted gross income—including capital gains—from the tax returns of each of the two major-party candidates (so no Ross Perot) the year before each election. For the 2008 election, for example, The Daily Beast looked at Barack Obama’s return for 2007. For John McCain and John Kerry, who both married heiresses, The Daily Beast also took into account spousal earnings. The Daily Beast then used national income estimates from Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez and Paris School of Economics professor Thomas Piketty. These income estimates are based around tax units—which include married couples and people filing singly—and include capital-gains income. For the current election between Mitt Romney and Obama we used 2010 income estimates, the most recent available. All dollar amounts are real and not adjusted for inflation. Finally, The Daily Beast ranked the candidates by how many times richer each one was while running that the average American. Of the 25 candidates we counted, the seven (counting Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter twice) with the most mundane cash flows were all Democrats, with Michael Dukakis coming closest to the common man, earning just 4.33 times more than the average citizen. And the least common candidate? Mitt Romney, of course, who despite being “unemployed” in 2011, still took in more than 400 times the average Joe or Jane. Because releasing tax returns didn’t become the norm until after Watergate, the list covers every major-party candidate going back to 1972, and a few earlier ones going back to 1952. We compiled figures from digital versions of the returns for recent candidates, when available, and from historical press reports when actual returns were unavailable. (Photo: getty/AP/Getty) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Dukakis earned: $4.33 Candidate income: $108,000 Average American income: $24,920 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $25,000 Effective tax rate: 23.1% (Barry Thumma / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Gore earned: $5.42 Candidate income: $240,930 Average American income: $44,396 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $59,178 Effective tax rate: 24.6% (Luke Frazza, AFP / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Clinton earned: $8.44 Candidate income: $244,356 Average American income: $28,958 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $49,828 Effective tax rate: 20.4% (Scott Applewhite / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Clinton earned: $9.44 Candidate income: $316,074 Average American income: $33,472 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $75,437 Effective tax rate: 23.9% (Greg Gibson / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, McGovern earned: $10.27 Candidate income: $89,100 Average American income: $8,673 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $34,223 Effective tax rate: 38.4% (Bill Chaplis / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Carter earned: $12.20 Candidate income: $193,824 Average American income: $15,888 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $64,945 Effective tax rate: 33.5% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Carter earned: $12.27 Candidate income: $136,926 Average American income: $11,156 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $16,702 Effective tax rate: 12.2% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Bush earned: $12.36 Candidate income: $308,000 Average American income: $24,920 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $86,000 Effective tax rate: 27.9% (J. Scott Applewhite / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Eisenhower earned: $14.46 Candidate income*: $48,331.83 Average American income: $3,343 Total federal taxes paid by candidate*: $12,154.21 Effective tax rate: 25.1% *Figures are an average of total income and taxes in the four years leading up to campaign, according to historical press accounts (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Mondale earned: $14.61 Candidate income: $296,000 Average American income: $20,252 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $97,000 Effective tax rate: 32.8% (Rusty Kennedy / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Obama earned: $15.32 Candidate income: $789,674 Average American income: $51,550 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $162,074 Effective tax rate: 20.5% (David Greedy / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Dole earned: $17.44 Candidate income: $583,869 Average American income: $33,472 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $136,848 Effective tax rate: 23.4% (David Ake, AFP / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Bush earned: $18.64 Candidate income: $822,126 Average American income: $44,102 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $227,490 Effective tax rate: 27.7% (Timothy A. Clary, AFP / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Stevenson earned: $20.72 Candidate income: $69,273 Average American income: $3,343 Total federal taxes paid by candidate*: $21,198.04 Effective tax rate: 30.6% *Figure is an average of taxes paid in the ten years leading up to campaign, according to historical press accounts (Mark Kauffman, Time Life Pictures / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Reagan earned: $20.89 Candidate income: $423,000 Average American income: $20,252 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $129,000 Effective tax rate: 30.5% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Ford earned: $22.59 Candidate income: $251,991 Average American income: $11,156 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $94,569 Effective tax rate: 37.5% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Nixon earned: $28.93 Candidate income: approximately $200,000 Average American income: $6,914 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: n/a ($60,000 in total state and federal taxes) Effective tax rate: n/a (Evan Vucci / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Nixon earned: $30.25 Candidate income: $262,385 Average American income: $8,673 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $18,153.18 Effective tax rate: 7% (Evan Vucci / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Reagan earned: $32.47 Candidate income: $515,878 Average American income: $15,888 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $230,886 Effective tax rate: 44.8% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Bush earned: $36.27 Candidate income: $1,610,400 Average American income: $44,396 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $449,827 Effective tax rate: 27.9% (Paul J. Richards, AFP / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Bush earned: $45.74 Candidate income: $1,324,456 Average American income: $28,957 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $204,841 Effective tax rate: 15.5% (AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Obama earned: $71.30 Candidate income: $4,139,165 Average American income: $58,056 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $1,396,772 Effective tax rate: 33.7% (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, McCain earned: $78.95 Candidate income: $4,583,555 Average American income: $58,056 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $1,256,849 Effective tax rate: 27.4% **Income and tax figures are combined from individual filings of John McCain and spouse Cindy McCain (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Kerry earned: $123.93 Candidate income: $5,465,338 Average American income: $44,102 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $718,976 Effective tax rate: 13.2% **Income and tax figures are combined from individual filings of John Kerry and spouse Teresa Heinz (Laura Rauch / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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| Per dollar the average American earned, Romney earned: $405.45 Candidate income: $20,901,075 Average American income: $51,550 Total federal taxes paid by candidate: $3,226,623 Effective tax rate: 15.4% (Evan Vucci / AP Photo) See the Full Story at The Daily Beast |
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