Obama's Tax Return

The White House has posted President Obama's tax return (pdf) for 2009 on its Web site. Mr. Obama collected $317 in interest from an account at "JP Morgan," suggesting that he hasn't (or hadn't at the beginning of 2009) followed the advice of the "move your money" crowd to get out of the big bailed-out banks and move his money to a smaller community bank or credit union. It's also the case that while Mr. Obama is calling for increased taxes on "the rich" he did what he could to minimize his own tax bill, using strategies such as investing in tax-exempt government bonds, giving cash gifts to his children (who are taxed at lower rates than he is), and contributing to a tax-exempt retirement account. He also keeps a mortgage on his house (leverage!) and takes the home mortage tax deduction, even though if he wanted to he could certainly afford to pay the mortgage off.