Obamas earned $4.2 mln in 2007: tax return

By Ellen Wulfhorst

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama released his 2007 tax returns on Wednesday, showing he and his wife earned $4.2 million, mostly from book sales.

The Illinois senator and his wife Michelle paid nearly $1.4 million in federal income taxes, his campaign said.

Obama, who is locked in a tight race with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, has written the books "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams from my Father."

The couple earned $3.94 million from book sales and slightly less than $261,000 in salaries. Michelle Obama is on leave from her job as an executive at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

The couple contributed roughly $240,000 to charity last year, the returns showed.

Clinton, a New York senator, released tax information earlier this month, showing she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have earned $109 million since leaving the White House in January 2001. That included $51 million in speech income for the former president.

In addition, Hillary Clinton made $10 million from her book "Living History" and $190,000 from "It Takes a Village," released in 1996, while Bill Clinton made more than $23 million for his autobiography "My Life," and $6.3 million for "Giving," released last year.

Obama and Clinton are vying for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's general election.

McCain, an Arizona senator who has clinched the Republican nomination, will release his tax information after the April 15 deadline for filing, a campaign spokesman has said.

Presidential candidates often release their tax returns, although they are not required to do so. As senators, Obama, Clinton and McCain are required only to file disclosure statements that provide few details on finances and holdings. (Editing by Alan Elsner)