Bill and Hillary Clinton have earned $109 million (£54.9 million) since leaving the White House seven years ago, according to their income tax returns, which the former First Lady’s presidential campaign released last night.

Mrs Clinton had been under pressure from Barack Obama, her rival for the Democratic nomination, to release her tax returns. She made public seven years of tax filings since 2000, including additional information on last year.

The Clintons left the White House mired in debt stemming from their myriad legal problems, including the marathon Whitewater investigation, which eventually spawned the Monica Lewinsky impeachment saga.

The tax returns, however, show that furtune has smiled on them since those bleak days. The bulk of the couple’s prodigious earnings since Mr Clinton left office have come from his books and worldwide speaking engagements, when he can be paid up to $30,000 for one appearance. In total, their gross income from 2000 to 2007 was $109,175,175.

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The sum explains how Mrs Clinton was able to lend her presidential campaign $5 million of her own money this year when it ran into financial trouble.

Of the $109 million, nearly $52 million came from the former President’s speech-making and more than $29 million from his books. He has also received more than $1.2 million from his presidential pension. Mr Clinton has earned nearly $24 million from his autobiography, My Life, including a $15 million advance, and his most recent book, Giving, for which he has been paid $6.3 million. The former President has donated $1 million from Giving to charity.

Mrs Clinton’s income from her books has also been substantial; She has received $10.5 million. Living History, her autobiography, earned her nearly $10.3 million. Her 1996 work It Takes a Village, earned her $189,188. She has also earned more than $1 million from her Senate salary since she entered the chamber in 2000.

Jay Carson, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said: “The Clintons have now made public 30 years of tax returns, a record matched by few people in public service. None of Hillary Clinton’s presidential opponents have revealed anything close to this amount of personal financial information. What the Clintons’ tax returns show is that they paid more than $33,000,000 in federal taxes and donated more than $10,000,000 to charities over the past eight years.

“They paid taxes and made charitable contributions at a higher rate than taxpayers at their income level.” In total, the Clintons paid nearly $34 million in taxes and gave $10,256,741 to charity. Their after-tax earnings for the seven-year period were $57,157,297.

Mr Obama has long accused Mrs Clinton of being secretive and has been pressuring her to release not only her tax returns but also millions of pages of documents relating to her time as First Lady.

Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, released their tax returns from 2000 to 2006 on his campaign website last month, and immediately challenged Mrs Clinton to make hers public. According to their 2006 returns, Mr Obama and his wife — a successful Ivy League-educated lawyer — earned nearly $1 million in 2006 and paid $277,431 on the income. More than half of the couple’s income in 2006 — nearly $507,000 — came from royalties from his two books, The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from my Father.

In 2005 Mr Obama earned more than $1,210,000 from royalties. The Obamas earned nearly $431,000 in salaries in 2006, according to the returns. The documents do not show what Mr Obama or his wife individually earned, but the senator’s salary was $165,000 that year.

Mrs Clinton has challenged Mr Obama to release all records relating to his time as an Illinois state senator. Her aides continue to question whether he has revealed all about his dealings with Antoin “Tony” Rezko, his former friend and important donor now on trial on corruption charges.

By contrast, Tony Blair has earned £2.6 million since leaving office.

The rist list

$109m Total income, including . . .
$1m Hillary Clinton’s Senate salary
$1.2m Bill Clinton’s presidential pension
$10.5m Mrs Clinton’s book income
$29.6m Mr Clinton’s book income
$51.9m Mr Clinton’s speech income

Source: Clinton campaign

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