Clintons, Cheneys release tax returns

Clintons Made $109 Million Since 2000

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Clinton made nearly $109 million since they left the White House, capitalizing on the world's interest in the former first couple and lucrative business ventures.

The Clintons reported $20.4 million in income for 2007 as they gave the public the most detailed look at their finances in eight years. Almost half the former first couple's money came from Bill Clinton's speeches.

The Democratic presidential candidate and her husband paid $33.8 million in taxes from 2000 through 2007. They listed $10.25 million in charitable contributions during that period.

Clinton has been under pressure to release her tax returns, especially from rival Sen. Barack Obama, who posted his 2000 to 2006 returns on his campaign Web site last week. Neither Obama nor Republican Sen. John McCain has made their 2007 tax returns public, though both say they will this month.

The Clintons last made their returns public in 2000 when they reported an adjusted gross income of $416,039 for 1999. Since then, the former president has embarked on a number of business ventures and has made millions from speaking engagements and books.

In the tax returns, the former president describes his occupation as "Speaking & Writing."
Beside speeches and books, his biggest single business income is from his partnership with Yucaipa Global Opportunities Fund, a Los Angeles-based investment firm founded by longtime Clinton fundraiser Ron Burkle. Between 2003 and 2006, the returns show total Yucaipa partnership income of $12.5 million. The 2007 summary provided by the campaign lists $2.75 million in partnership income.

According to a summary of the seven years provided by the campaign, the former president's speech income since he left the White House totals $51.85 million and his income from his two books — "My Life " and "Giving" — totals $29.6 million, including a $15 million advance for "My Life." Bill Clinton has traveled the world, giving paid speeches to multinational corporations, investment banks and motivational groups.

The campaign has said Clinton typically donates millions of dollars worth of free speeches to charities

Hillary Clinton had $10.5 million in book income over the period from her book "Living History." She donated earnings from her other book, "It Takes a Village," to charity.

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Vice President Dick Cheney and Mrs. Cheney Release 2007 Income Tax Return

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney filed their federal income tax return for 2007 today.
The income tax return shows that the Cheneys owe federal taxes for 2007 of $602,651 on taxable income of $2,528,068. During the course of 2007 the Cheneys paid $466,165 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments, and will pay the remaining $136,486 upon filing their tax return.

The wage and salary income reported on the tax return includes the Vice President's $212,208 government salary. In addition, the tax return reports a pension benefit of $32,500, which the Vice President received as a former director of Union Pacific Corporation. The Vice President became eligible for this benefit in 2006 when he turned 65. The tax return also reports Mrs. Cheney's book royalty income, a salary from her continuing work at the American Enterprise Institute, and a pension benefit of $32,000, which she received as a former director of Reader's Digest. The amounts of the pension benefits received by the Vice President and by Mrs. Cheney are fixed and will not increase or decrease regardless of changes in the earnings or revenues of either company.

The Cheneys donated $166,547 to charity in 2007. This brings the Cheneys' total charitable contributions during his Vice Presidency to $ 7,966,566.

Rebate, Redux, Reflux

Here’s an excerpt from a Forbes.com article on the recently approved tax rebates.

It sounds simple. The economic stimulus package President George W. Bush signed today requires the U.S. Treasury Department to send "tax rebates" of $300, $600, $1,200 (or more, if the recipient has kids) to 128 million American households.

The checks will start going out in May. The $100 billion-plus cost will be added to the deficit, and we (or our children) will pay for it later--with interest.

Except these checks aren't rebates, exactly. And nothing about them is simple. The rebate is technically a credit against your 2008 tax bill that is being paid (in most cases) as what we'll call a "prebate." This prebate is based on your 2007 income tax return. The actual credit is based on your 2008 tax return. Whichever year produces the bigger check for your family

To complicate matters further, there are not just two tax years, but three different types of credits involved. Plus, all three credits are denied to folks who earn too much--with the benefit starting to phase out at $75,000 adjusted gross income for an individual and $150,000 for a couple. The $75,000 threshold also applies to single parents filing as heads of household.

Given such complications, it's not surprising that tax advisers have been brainstorming how families can get the greatest possible stimulus benefits by managing their 2008 (or even, in some cases, 2007) taxable incomes.

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Supreme Court Limits Trusts' Tax Deductions

The Supreme Court upheld limits Wednesday on income tax deductions for trusts and estates, ruling against the family that created Pepperidge Farm.

The court said trusts ordinarily may not deduct the full cost of investment advice on their income tax returns. Those expenses are deductible only when they exceed 2 percent of adjusted gross income, the same limits faced by individual filers, Chief Justice John Roberts said for a unanimous court.

The case arose over a relatively small tax dispute, $4,448, involving the income tax return filed by the trust established by the will of Henry A. Rudkin, former chairman and founder of the Pepperidge Farm company.

The trust was funded with the proceeds of the sale of Pepperidge Farm to the Campbell Soup Co. The trust had $2.9 million in assets and $625,000 in income in 2000, the year of the disputed return.

The trust reported that it spent $22,241 on investment advice and deducted all of it on its tax return. The Internal Revenue Service said the expenses could be deducted only to the extent they exceeded the 2 percent floor. The discrepancy was $4,448.

The trust sued in U.S. Tax Court, which ruled for the government. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling.

The case is Knight v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 06-1286.