by Mark Silva
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Vice President Dick Cheney cannot get enough of the news cycle today, it seems.
First his radio interviews denouncing the remarks of Barack Obama’s longtime pastor as “appalling” and calling John McCain “head and shoulders” above Obama, then the flyfishing sunglasses reflecting something, but certainly not a naked woman.
Now the 2007 tax return:
The vice president and his wife, Lynne Cheney, today reported a taxable income of $2,528,068 last year – and report owing $602,651 in taxes.
They already had $466,165 of that tax bill withheld through withholding and pre-estimated tax payments, but will write a check for the remaining $136,486 when they file their 1040.
So much for the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008.The Cheney couple’s earnings include the vice president’s salary of $212,208, accordiing to figures released by his office today. The vice president also collected $32,500 as a pension benefit as a former director of the Union Pacific Corp. – something he qualified for when he turned 65.
Their income also includes her book royalties and an undisclosed “salary from her continuing work at the American Enterprise Institute” and a pension benefit of $32,000 as a former director of Reader’s Digest.
They’re also on a fixed income, as far as these pension benefits are concerned – they “will not increase or decrease regardless of changes in the earnings or revenues of either company,” the vice president’s office says.
The Cheneys contributed $166,547 to charity, the office says.
In his seven years as vice president, his office adds, that charitable giving has totaled $7.97 million.