Biden used a tax loophole to shave tax bill by $500K

[Geee]

Review Journal

Former Vice President Joe Biden, now the front-runner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, hates tax loopholes. His platform includes getting high-income Americans to pay more in taxes and eliminating write-offs used by the rich.

But it looks like a “do what I say, not what I do” kind of commitment.

As Richard Rubin of The Wall Street Journal recently reported, Mr. Biden and his wife took advantage of a tax loophole that the Obama administration unsuccessfully attempted to close, substantially lowering their tax bill.

According to the couple’s recently released tax returns, they routed their book and speech income through so-called “S corporations,” which allowed them to bypass the 3.8 percent self-employment tax that would have applied had they been compensated directly. The move — which critics of Donald Trump suggest the president has also used — saved the Bidens $500,000 in taxes on their roughly $15 million in income.