US President Joe Biden (L) looks on as Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks at Prince George's Community College in Largo, Maryland on August 15, 2024 ( AFP / Brendan SMIALOWSKI)

Posts baselessly inflate Harris, Biden net worth

Published on September 5, 2024 at 21:09
4 min read
By Rob LEVER, AFP USA

Both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have profited from their time in the national spotlight, but there is no evidence the US president and vice president are each worth tens of millions of dollars, as posts online claim. The figures contradict official financial disclosures and media analyses, which show most of the Democrats' wealth is from homes purchased before they were elected in 2020.

"The US political system has been fully hijacked by corrupt totalitarians who no longer look out for the will of The People," says a September 3, 2024 Instagram post with tens of thousands of interactions.

The post includes an image suggesting Biden's wealth grew from $9 million in 2019 to $41 million in 2022, and that Harris's spiked from $6.3 million to $28 million over the same period.

The same image circulated on X, Facebook and Reddit alongside comments suggesting the incumbents leveraged their positions to enrich themselves. Other unsubstantiated claims about Harris's wealth circulated on TikTok.

Screenshot from Instagram taken September 4, 2024

Harris has been targeted by misinformation since Biden dropped his re-election bid in July, endorsing her to take on former president Donald Trump in the November contest.

The daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, Harris started her career as a prosecutor in Alameda County, California. She was elected in 2004 as district attorney of San Francisco and in 2016 as US senator before becoming Biden's running mate in 2020.

AFP found the same image with estimates of Harris's net worth circulating as early as 2022 on meme-generation websites. PolitiFact debunked similar claims in 2023.

There is no evidence to back the figures shared online -- and financial disclosures contradict them.

Biden holdings

Forbes estimated in August 2023 that Biden and his wife Jill have a net worth of $10 million, up from $8 million when he took office in 2021 (archived here and here).

Some $7 million of the Bidens' wealth is from the value of their two homes in Delaware, including a large Rehoboth Beach property they purchased in 2017 after the former vice president left office.

Biden's 2024 financial disclosure (archived here) -- which does not require listing most personal real estate -- shows several bank and investment accounts, none with more than $1 million. The ranges in the report make a precise valuation impossible, but AFP calculated his financial assets to be worth less than $2.5 million.

He also listed a mortgage in the range of $250,000 to $500,000, a home equity loan and two additional loans.

The Bidens' 2023 tax returns show they reported a total income of $619,000, including the president's $400,000 salary (archived here).

Biden in 2014 claimed to be "the poorest man in Congress," but he earned considerable sums from speeches and book deals after leaving the vice presidency, according to The Washington Post.

AFP contacted the White House for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

Harris assets

Forbes estimated in May 2024 that Harris and her husband, lawyer Doug Emhoff, have a net worth of $8 million, up from $7 million in 2021 (archived here and here).

The couple's portfolio includes a multimillion-dollar home in Los Angeles purchased by Emhoff, who earned an estimated $1 million annually before leaving his law practice after Harris was elected vice president.

The most recent financial disclosure form for the couple (archived here) lists multiple bank and investment accounts holding between $2.8 million and $6.6 million. They have a mortgage liability between $1 million and $5 million.

Tax returns for Harris and Emhoff show they reported a total income of around $450,000 in 2023 (archived here), including the vice president's salary of $235,100.

Harris has earned a considerable amount from book royalties in recent years. Her and Emhoff's combined income was far less before she took office; 2020 tax returns show they earned $1.86 million (archived here).

AFP contacted the Harris campaign for comment, but a response was not forthcoming.

Comparison with Trump

Biden and Harris have far fewer assets than Trump, who was worth an estimated $3.9 billion in early September 2024, according to Forbes (archived here).

Much of the former president's wealth is in the value of his real estate holdings, including his office buildings and Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. The Republican nominee's most recent financial disclosures show he has made millions of dollars from licensing deals and book royalties, partly offset by civil judgments in court cases (archived here).

AFP has debunked similar claims about the net worth of Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz.