Cheney outweighs his boss on White House tax returns

WASHINGTON – Vice President Dick Cheney may be No. 2 at the White House, but he surpassed his boss last year when it came to earnings and taxable income.

On their 2004 federal income-tax returns, which the White House released Friday, the vice president and his wife, Lynne Cheney, reported $1,328,678 in earnings last year, which produced a $393,518 tax bill. They paid $290,855 through withholding and estimated tax payments. They paid the remaining $102,663 when they filed their return Friday.

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush reported $672,788 in taxable earnings for 2004 and paid $207,307 in federal taxes, according to their returns. The Bushes’ earnings were less than the $822,126 in adjusted gross income they reported for 2003, on which they paid $227,490 in taxes.

The Bushes listed his presidential salary and investment income from trusts that hold their assets as their sources of income.

Although Cheney’s income was nearly twice Bush’s, Cheney’s average rate of taxation – 29.6 percent – was lower than Bush’s, which was 30.8 percent. That’s because Cheney had a large amount of charitable deductions and other itemized deductions.