Bushes Pay Taxes on $923,807 Income

WASHINGTON — The federal tax bill for President Bush and his wife: $221,635. That's how much the Bushes owed on their adjusted gross income of $923,807 for the year 2007, according to a joint return released Friday. The Bushes have paid $203,894 so far, which means they'll need to break out the checkbook _ they owe the government $17,741.

Their income total includes a $150,000 advance received by Laura Bush for the children's book she co-authored with her daughter, Jenna.

Last year, the president and Mrs. Bush paid $186,378 in federal taxes on their income of $765,801.

Bush's salary as president is about $400,000.

Almost 29 percent of the Bushes' income comes from interest on investments. The largest share of that interest was paid out from one place, The Lone Star Trust, according to the return released by the White House.

The White House also reported that Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, had an adjusted gross income of $3.04 million in 2007.

The Cheneys owed $602,651 in federal taxes on that income. They have paid $466,165 through withholdings and estimated tax payments, and will pay the remaining $136,486 upon filing their tax return.

The Cheneys' income includes the vice president's salary and a pension he gets as a former director of Union Pacific Corp. It also includes Lynne Cheney's book royalty income, a salary from her work at the American Enterprise Institute and a pension she gets as a former director of Reader's Digest.

The vice president's salary is about $212,000.

Mrs. Bush donated all net proceeds from her book advance to Teach for America and The New Teacher Project, according to the White House.

The Bushes contributed $165,660 to churches and charitable organizations, including the volunteer fire department in Crawford, Texas, where they own a ranch. The Cheneys donated $166,547 to charity in 2007, the White House said.

Comments

[Trinidad707]

It can't be good when Obama says one thing then does another, he's done that a few times now...Sen. Obama should be honest and tell Democrats that he voted for Dick Cheney's energy bill, which even his own supporters acknowledge contained billions of dollars in giveaways to the oil industry. We don't need another politician to talk about standing up to the oil industry,and then voting alongside them. If it is a Cheney bill you know it's bad and Yet Obama voted for it! we need a fighter like Hillary Clinton who will actually stand up for us and fight these companies." Not someone like Obama who will say anything to get elected, like his NAFTA comment to Canadian Ambassador it was all for show! or just campaign rhetoric...Sort of like we found out through people who testified in Rezko trial said Obama's ethics bill was all for show! He says he is for the people then goes for the big companies and businessmen Sounds like he is playing the voters!

[Anciano]

Bet all the revenues from the oil wells are in a trust, therefore they don't show up.

[craneman]

Just what in the Hell did everyone expect?????

[3443649]

WHERE IS THE KICK-BACK REPORTING BY CHENEY? AFTER ALL, HE HAS A VESTED INTEREST IN THE MONEY THAT FLOWED SO EASILY TO IRAQ. AND HALLIBURTON.

[ResistanceisFutile]

Adjusted income is income after all of the loop holes have been applied.

[ricchase]

That's it? This is all they took in? Oh yeah, this is only the "Official Version."

[NelsonR]

Elitist with corruption the norm describes these two, Bush/Cheney. If there is a god he must have a special place for them. Pol Pot got his, now these two should join him with Hitler and Stalin part of the crowd. Pretty bad when an American can have these thoughts but most do.

The English language lacks the proper verbiage without using the F word to describe them.

[flacon]

nelson, most don't think like you. Just the haters.

[1differentdrummer]

The mantra of the republican, "I got mine, how you doin'?"

[FanOfTheTruth]

I find it interesting that many are just spewing their opinions and not seeing what this article is really telling them with these facts:

1) Income total includes a $150,000 advance received by Laura Bush for the children's book she co-authored with her daughter, Jenna.

2) Mrs. Bush donated all net proceeds from her book advance to Teach for America and The New Teacher Project, according to the White House.
----> Check out the "Teach for America" IRS Form 990......looks like a lot is going towards salaries, benefits and travel!
-----> Can't even find "The New Teacher Project" listed in http://www.charitynavigator.org/ or http://www.charitywatch.org/azlist.html.

3) The Bushes contributed $165,660 to churches and charitable organizations

4) They had adjusted gross income of $923,807 for the year 2007, of which $150,000 was from a children's book advance.

If you take that 150K "gift from a publisher" out of the equation, the Bushes only contributed 2.1% of Gross Adjusted Income towards charities on the money they earned.

I'm sure all of our charitable contributions would look better if we had some sugar daddy giving us money to give to charity. However, most of us don't have connections like those in the upper echelon.

Given my example and those of others taking the numbers and making their own interpretations, isn't it sad that we can use statistics to support any position we take? Therefore, it's all a matter of point of view, isn't it?

[bmermaid]

Hilarious! Most of thier fortune has never & will never see the light of day in the USA. It goes straight from the Saudis & other oil interests, directly into off-shore accounts.
The 923 thousand is chump change to them, and they're laughing all the way to the (Swiss) bank.

[Boboday555]

We actually pay George W. AWOL and President War Deferments Cheney for this crap administration?
Geez...talk about pissing our tax dollars away!
This reminds me of those corporate executives who still get bonus checks even when their companies go belly up!
Since those two cowards have taken away 'We The Taxpayers' ability to hold them responsible for their disastrous handling of this once proud nation, shouldn't we at least be able to get back their salaries?
The $9 billions they "lost" in Iraq is gone for good but their salaries can still be returned...after all, they do work for us!!!!

[lastams]

...and the rich keep getting richer; so this is a surprise?

Next week, Congress will begin debate on the Farm bill, perhaps the largest collection of government handouts on the planet.
In 2005 alone, the federal government handed out more than $25 billion in aid, almost 50 percent more than the amount it pays to families receiving welfare.
The largest annual subsidy, called direct and countercyclical payments, is given to farmers regardless of what crops they grow " or whether they grow anything at all. The Washington Post found that, since 2001, at least $1.3 billion was paid to landowners who had planted nothing since 2000. Among the beneficiaries were homeowners in new developments whose backyards used to be rice fields.

The Farm and Insurance lobbies are arguably the two most powerful groups on the Hill.
Not only are the current level of expenditures not expected to be curtailed, they are expected to increase.
The one outlay which is not expected to increase, and may indeed be curtailed, is the food stamp program, which is also part of the Farm bill.
However Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has added a provision which will extend Farm subsidies to race horses. Race horses! Really!

Yes, Bush and Cheney should be smiling; They've led a virtual take-over of our government by corporate interests; I'm sure they'll be suitably rewarded.

[robXdion]

Why do they look like the movie poster for "Stuck on You" about twin brothers joined at the hip?

[bish66]

Weren't Presidents and Vice Presidents supposed to live on their salary from the people? I mean, the tax payer gives them a place to live, pays for the food they eat and the cloths they wear and they drive them around in armored cars and on AirForcce One.

Wasn't there something that their assets are frozen as long as they are in office? So how can they earn nearly $1m while in office?

[marthamay]

What did the clintons make, over a 100 million

[bish66]

The Clintons left the White House in debt and they earned their money through book deals and speeches.$109m is a lot of money, but it was not earned in one year, but over 7 years. They paid their taxes on these earnings (over $31m) and they donated 10% to charity. Where is the problem?

[vlebje]

Well, *almost* right. They paid 9% to charity, and most of it to their own personal private charity foundation, from which they spend little or nothing. So, for their "tithe" they probably spend less than 2%. The same can be said for all those pols, like Cheney, et al, whose charitable giving is so paltry as to be an embarrassment to normal people.

I am a pastor who ministers to a congregation of very modest earners. I would imagine that our people only average around $40,000 or less per family, and some far less. I can tell you from fiscal reports that nearly 95% of my people are meeting the meaure of 10 percent offerings -- and that on gross income, not net!

In light of this, my people are far more honorable than any of these cheap folks. if we measure right, my people are far more giving than even Bill Gates, who gives less than one percent of his income to real charities!

I am really tired of the world dissing the good people of America, which my members represent. They are generous to a fault, sometimes, because they rightly know that their giving is going toward the work of the church and its ministries and the cause of Christ. Stop highlighting the so-called "charitable" giving of the rich plutocracy, when in fact they are actually cheap and paltry in their less-than-generous "generosity."

Power to the people, not the oligarchs and plutocrats.

[andyboy]

You don't make as much when your in office.