Joe Biden made millions after leaving the White House, including $400K at Penn last year

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden was paid more than $400,000 by the University of Pennsylvania last year, a fraction of more than $4.5 million he and his wife, Jill Biden, reported earning in 2018, according to tax returns released by his presidential campaign Tuesday.

The returns provide the most up-to-date look at Biden’s financial situation since he left the White House, and show how sharply he has increased his income after decades in public office — including years as one of the least wealthy members of the Senate. The Bidens’ $15.6 million in combined income over the last two years dwarfs that of his top-tier Democratic competitors, most of whom remain in public office.

It also shows how life has changed for a candidate who is sometimes called “Middle-Class Joe” and who still leans on his blue-collar Scranton roots. Biden, however, is hardly the only millionaire in the race to take on President Donald Trump, who himself boasts about his wealth and business success while pledging to support working-class voters.

Penn paid Biden $371,159 in 2017 and $405,368 in 2018, when he held the title of Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor. The school also established the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy & Global Engagement.

Those amounts alone were significant increases on the $230,700 per year Biden made as vice president. The average Penn professor made $217,411 in the 2017-18 academic year, according to data compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

He is on a leave of absence as he campaigns for president.

Asked about Biden’s duties, a Penn spokesman referred to a 2017 news release in which the school announced his new role and touted his ability to expand its global imprint and work on international affairs. “His unsurpassed understanding of diplomacy and far-ranging grasp of world issues make him an ideal fit to further Penn’s global engagement,” Penn President Amy Gutmann said in the release.

Biden, in the release, said he would continue his work “promoting and protecting the post-WWII international order that keeps the United States safe and strong.”

The Penn pay, though, was a small part of the Bidens’ overall income, the returns show. They had an adjusted gross income of $11 million in 2017 and $4.58 million in 2018, nearly all of it from books (one apiece) and dozens of paid speeches.

Among them: nearly $183,000 when Joe Biden spoke to the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan, $190,000 for a lecture at Drew University in northern New Jersey, and $234,820 for a “VIP Experience” as part of his book tour in 2017.

In Biden’s last year as vice president, 2016, the couple’s combined income was $396,456. Jill Biden is an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, making $94,705 in that role last year.

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Other Democrats also have been disclosing income and salary information as they run for president, an issue any can wield against Trump, who has refused to share his tax returns in a break with decades of custom.

Among Biden’s top Democratic rivals, none made as much as $2 million in 2018, according to their returns.

California Sen. Kamala Harris and her husband, a law partner, made $1.9 million, and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her husband reported income of just over $846,000. (Warren’s husband is also in academia: He made more than $400,000 as a Harvard law professor.) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and his wife made $561,293 in 2018.

Many of the candidates also have reaped significant amounts from book deals. Warren has made nearly $3 million over the last five years from her book, while Sanders has reported $2.1 million from his writing in the same period, according to a CNN analysis of the candidates’ tax returns. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has made $1.3 million from his book and Harris $730,000.

Sanders and Warren each have had income that has topped $1 million in recent years as their books and public profiles have taken off, although neither approached Biden’s income for the last two years.

According to public disclosures, several other Democrats have net worths that reach into the millions of dollars, as does Biden’s.

The Bidens hold assets worth between $2.2 million and nearly $8 million, according to their financial disclosure, a steep increase over the amounts they showed when he left office in January 2017.

Other Democratic contenders also are worth millions, according to their disclosures, including Warren (between $4.8 million and $11 million) and Harris ($1.9 million to $6 million). Sanders showed a net worth of between $729,000 and $1.8 million.

The disclosure forms do not include the values of the candidates’ homes, so their net worths are likely even higher.

The Bidens paid $3.7 million in federal income taxes in 2017, about 34 percent of their adjusted gross income, and $1.5 million (33 percent) in 2018, according to his campaign. They gave more than $1 million to charity in 2017 and nearly $276,000 in 2018.

Biden now has released his last 21 years of tax returns, his campaign said, including those released during his 2008 presidential campaign and during his time in the White House.

This story has been updated. An earlier version failed to include a response from Penn.