Cheney Gets $1.9 Million Tax Refund

AP ^ | April 14, 2006 | Deb Riechmann

[Hoodat]

President Bush reported adjusted gross income of $735,180 for last year, on which he paid $187,768 in federal taxes, according to the president's return released Friday by the White House.

The White House also released the 2005 tax return filed by Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne. According to the return, the Cheneys have overpaid their taxes this year and are entitled to a refund of about $1.9 million. Their adjusted gross income was about $8.82 million.

In 2004, the president and first lady Laura Bush reported $784,219 in adjusted gross income and paid $207,307 in federal income taxes.

On their 2005 return the Bushes listed as income his presidential salary — about $400,000 — and investment income from trusts that hold their assets.

The couple contributed $75,560 to churches and charitable organizations, about $2,200 less than last year. Those included the American Red Cross and the Salvation Army's funds for hurricane relief in the United States and earthquake aid in Pakistan; Martha's Table, which provides food and services to the underprivileged in the Washington area; the Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Charities; and the Mississippi Food Network.

The Bushes paid $26,172 in state property taxes on their ranch near Crawford, Texas, up about $4,000 from the year before.

The Cheneys reported adjusted gross income of nearly $8.82 million, which was largely the result of exercising stock options that had been set aside in 2001 for charity.

The Cheneys donated just under $6.87 million to charity from the stock options and royalties from Mrs. Cheney's books. That left about $1.9 million in income on which the Cheney's owed $529,636 in taxes.

Over the year, the Cheneys paid $2,468,566 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. As a result, the Cheneys are entitled to a refund of $1,938,930.

[hosepipe]

[ "Is that a headline for the uneducated masses or what? Alot will read no further than the headline and they will say Cheney is a rich tax cheat." ]

Most don't even know who Cheney IS, OR CARE..
Jay Lenos Jaywalking episodes extant..

[spikeytx86]

If cheney were a girl he would not even be on Kerry's radar at that income level.

[spikeytx86]

By "Rich" They mean everyone above oliver twist.

[Right Wing Professor]

According to the return, the Cheneys have overpaid their taxes this year and are entitled to a refund of about $1.9 million.

For a mere $50,000, I will offer to help Dick and Lynne adjust their withholding so this doesn't happen :-)

[Kenny Bunkport]

Cheney donates $6.87 million to charity

The Clintons donated that much in used underwear.

[libstripper]

Cheney did the opposite--he gave the Government an interest free $1,900,000 loan. At about 6% interest and assuming equal estimated tax payments, that works out to a gift to the government of about $57,000. He obviously didn't have Rush's accountant because the purpose of properly calculating one's withholding and estimated tax payments is to come in owing a little, but not enough to incur underpayment penalties. Cheney goofed by not keeping his estimated payments lower so he wouldn't have ended up making that large gift to the government.

[Libertarian444]

Copy of the President's tax return: (requires PDF reader)

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/images/04/14/bush.taxes.pdf

[Right Wing Professor]

The Clintons donated that much in used underwear.

Your post lacks the requisite warnings.

I fixed it for you, but please be more careful in future.

[motherof 3]

What about Hill and Bill? What about any Democrat?

[Right Wing Professor]

The Cheneys donated just under $6.87 million to charity from the stock options and royalties from Mrs. Cheney's books. That left about $1.9 million in income on which the Cheney's owed $529,636 in taxes.

These are impressively generous people.

[bray]

The reason he sold his options was because the Rats insisted he do it. Course he would have done better by holding and buying Haliburtan. He made nearly as much as BJ clinton! What a Great Country.

Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters

[Kenny Bunkport]

Yeah, Clinton is always blathering about how he makes too much money and should be taxed more...How much did HE pay?

[Billthedrill]

I hope he spends the whole thing on ammo.

[okie01]

Is that a headline for the uneducated masses or what? Alot will read no further than the headline and they will say Cheney is a rich tax cheat.

Which is, of course, exactly what the headline writer and his editor intended.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I try explaining this to idiots all the time and they just look at me like what planet did you come from

That's because people are myopic and believe that they're entitled to a refund. I explained the benefits of a pure flat income tax to a friend and he whined about losing his home mortgage and other deductions and crap.

If people do choose to get a refund, they should immediately stock it into a 401(k) or interest-earning account.

[stephenjohnbanker]

In 30 years!

[caisson71]

So, how much interest did Cheney get for loaning the US $1.9 million of his own money? Americans should send him a "Thank You" letter for free use of his money.

[AzNASCARfan]

Well here are the complaints at DU... surpised me tho... there are actually a few that have a brain over there that give him credit for it instead of trying to skewer him!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x932079

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x931892

[Crolis]

Cheney better revise his W-4. He's giving the government an interest free loan. Best to get neither a refund nor pay anything on the 15th, unless it's less than $500.

Good idea. I tweaked my W-4 last year to create just this type of scenario. This year when I filed, once everything was tallied, I wound up owing about $80 to the Feds. Much nicer than last year.

[Gaffer]

But you forget, Slick Willie donated some 'used' underwear, though!