Obamas earned US$5.5m

PRESIDENT Barack Obama and his wife have doubled their income since he took office, declaring a joint gross income of US$5.5 million (S$7.6 million) for the 2009 fiscal year, the White House said on Thursday.

Mr Obama earned an annual salary as president of US$374,460 since his inauguration in January 2009, according to his tax filings released on Thurs

In 2008, Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, declared a joint gross income of US$2.65 million, most of which also came from royalties on his books Dreams Of My Father and The Audacity Of Hope. According to his 2009 documents, the Obamas paid US$1.79 million in federal taxes and US$163,303 in state taxes to Illinois where the couple owns a home in Chicago.

Mr Obama also received US$1.4 million last year when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, but he has donated his prize money among 10 charities, the White House said, and the sum is not part of the US$5.5 million declared income.

The couple also donated US$329,100 to 40 different charities in 2009, with the largest reported gifts being US$50,000 to CARE and the United Negro College Fund. In 2007, the Obamas said they had earned US$4.2 million. -