The Swine Line

Former President Clinton (who is among those who have claimed to be unfairly undertaxed and should put his money where his mouth is) has taken full advantage of the perks available to him for having held the presidential office. 

The Politico reports: 
Taxpayers fund Bill Clinton spending

The Clintons have made a $100-million fortune since leaving the White House, but a Politico analysis found that hasn’t kept Bill Clinton from taking full advantage of the publicly funded perks offered to ex-presidents.

In fact, his presidential retirement benefits cost taxpayers almost as much as those of the other two living ex-presidents combined.

The price tag for Clinton’s federal retirement allowance from 2001 through the end of this year will run $8 million, compared to $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush’s and $4 million for Jimmy Carter’s during the same period.

Since 2001, Clinton has received more of almost every benefit available to former presidents — from his pension to his staff’s salaries and benefits to supplies. His $420,000 phone bill and $3.2 million office rent tab both nearly surpassed the totals rung up for those purposes by Bush, Carter and the late former presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan combined. As a group, they spent $484,000 on telephone service and $3.8 million on rent in the same span.

…Given Bill Clinton’s earning potential and that of future ex-presidents, “the benefits taxpayers shell out for their care and feeding just don’t make sense anymore,” contended Pete Sepp, spokesman for the fiscally conservative, nonprofit National Taxpayers Union.

The group has pushed to reduce or cap the perks available to former presidents and their families. “There’s a very flimsy justification for such generosity in many ex-presidents’ cases. In Bill Clinton’s case, there’s zero,” he said.

 

What do YOU think?  Should ex-presidents who get millions of dollars to give speeches continue to get such hefty taxpayer support?

CAGW has reported on congressional perks in the past