Barack Obama’s 2018 Expenses Will Cost American Taxpayers Whopping $1.1 Million

Former President Barack Obama is said to live a normal life after his days in the White House. However, even a former president requires a lot of security and special services. According to the latest memo, Obama will reportedly cost American taxpayers a whopping $1.1 million in 2018.

Many people quickly pointed out that Barack Obama lived off taxpayer’s money in the White House. He contradicted the perception by saying that he bore all his family’s expenses, including the cost of toilet paper. He stated that according to many, he spent taxpayers money on different vacations, but in reality, all the expenses were borne by him.

“I mentioned how I’ve got a pretty thick skin in this job. You’ve got to have it. One thing that did kind of get under my craw sometimes was people talking as if when we went on vacation or — that people’d be like, ‘Oh, spending taxpayer money’. It’s like, ‘No, no, I actually I’m paying for all of this’,” he said.

In the United States, former presidents are provided services under the Former President Act. The FPA is a 1958 U.S. federal law that provides lifetime benefits to former presidents of the United States who have not been impeached from office.

By law, all the living former presidents are entitled to a pension, staff, medical care, and secret service protection.

As per the law, the secretary of the Treasury pays a taxable pension to the president, and all former presidents receive a pension equal to what the head of an executive department would be paid. According to Fox News, each ex-president receives a base pension of $205,700 annually.

Apart from this, they are entitled to medical treatment in military hospitals. Two-terms presidents, like Barack Obama, can also buy health insurance under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program.

According to the Washington Times, Barack Obama’s $1,153,000 budget request for 2018 is actually $100,000 more than that of former President George W. Bush.

Barack Obama, who was recently in news for his tweet about Charlottesville violence, surpasses budget requests of former presidents like Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Obama’s Washington office’s leasing space costs $536,000. On the other hand, Clinton’s setup in New York and Bush’s office is Dallas cost $518,000 and $497,000, respectively. Meanwhile, Carter’s Atalanta office is just $115,000.

The cost figures do not include protection, which the United States Secret Service provides for former presidents for life. Those expenditures reportedly cost the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

Apart from this, there are a number of other ways from which he will also be getting money post his presidency. Obama has already made millions with his two previous memoirs, Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Many publication houses have estimated that his presidential memoir will go as high as $45 million.

Other than the memoir, he previously discussed his desire to teach law at college during his interview with the New Yorker.

“I love teaching. I miss the classroom and engaging with students,” he had said.

If he goes to a prestigious college to teach, he reportedly will earn a six-figure salary, reports the Independent.

What are your views on Barack Obama’s budget request? Share your views in the comments below.

[Featured Image by Robert Perry/Getty Images]