Business Insider’s Hunter Walker flags a jaw-dropping claim by Hillary Clinton, that despite more than $150 million in earnings since leaving the White House, and being declared the richest former first family still living, that in fact the Clintons aren’t “truly well off,” because they “pay ordinary income tax.” It was just this past week that Bloomberg reported the Clintons are employing residence trusts, a tax strategy employed by wealthy individuals, to avoid the estate tax.
Clinton adds “we’ve done it through dint of hard work,” such as Chelsea Clinton’s special correspondent deal where she’s paid $26,724 per minute of airtime or Bill Clinton’s more than $100,000,000 in speaking fees, or multi-million dollar advances for autobiographies. This comes a mere week after headlines mocked Hillary’s claim of being “dead broke” after leaving the White House in 2001.
Clinton responded to criticism of her wealth in an interview with the Guardian newspaper published Saturday night by suggesting Americans won’t be concerned about the more than $100 million her family has reportedly earned in recent years because they’re not “truly well off.”
“They don’t see me as part of the problem,” Clinton said of Americans who are upset about income inequality, adding, “Because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work.”
Clinton earned an $8 million advance for her 2003 book “Living History” and her publisher is rumored to have paid “significantly more” for “Hard Choices.” Additionally, Clinton reportedly earns $200,000 in speaking fees each time she makes a speech. Bill Clinton has reportedly made over $100 million in speaking fees since leaving office.
Earlier this month, Clinton caused controversy when she said she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were “dead broke” when he left the White House in 2000 and subsequently “struggled” to buy homes and pay for their daughter, Chelsea’s, education. Chelsea Clinton’s wealth also made headlines earlier this month after Politico reported she earned a $600,000 salary as a “special correspondent” for NBC News, a sum Business Insider noted seems to amount to $26,724 for each minute she was on air.