The president and vice-president released their 2011 tax returns this morning. The Obama's reported total income of $844,000 and adjusted gross income of $789,674, placing the president's family well inside the top 1% -- even the top 0.5% -- of households, which is no surprise considering the president's salary alone puts somebody near the top percentile. About half of Obama's income came from the president's salary. The other half came from book sales.

The Obama's paid $162,074 in total taxes, for an effective tax rate of about 20%, which is typical for an upper-middle class family but a tad lower than the average tax rate for the richest tenth of earners, since half of their money came from non-earned income and they reported a $3,000 investment loss. The couple donated a nearly identical amount, $172,130, or 22% of their adjusted gross income, to charities.