Bush pays USD 187,768 in taxes

Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, reported taxable income for 2005 that was more than three times that of the Bushes, USD 1,961,157, on which they owe USD 529,636 in federal taxes.

The Cheneys' adjusted gross income in 2005 was USD 8,819,006, which his office said was largely the result of the exercise by an independent gift administrator of stock options that had been irrevocably set aside in 2001 for charity.

The Cheneys had donated USD 6,869,655 to charity in 2005 from the exercise of these stock options under the terms of their gift agreement and from Mrs. Cheney's royalties from three historical books for young people.

Bush's 2005 income went down from the USD 784,219 in income from the 2004 tax year. His income included his USD 400,000 salary earned as president and investment income from the trusts in which their assets are held.

The White House said Bush and Mrs. Bush contributed USD 75,560 to churches and charitable organizations, including the American Red Cross' hurricane 2005 relief, the Salvation Army's hurricane relief fund and Pakistan earthquake relief, among other organizations.

During the course of 2005 the Cheneys paid USD 2,468,566 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments.

The wage and salary income reported on Cheney's tax return included his USD 205,031 government salary as well as USD 211,465 in deferred pay from Halliburton, the Texas energy company Cheney once headed, which has received billion-dollar government contracts in Iraq.

The deferred pay agreement dates back to December 1998 when Cheney decided to defer compensation earned in 1999 over five years for his services as chief executive officer of Halliburton. He had received USD 94,852 through this deal in 2004.

"The amount of deferred compensation received by the vice president is fixed and is not affected in any way by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings," the vice president's office said. "This 2005 payment closes out the payments under the deferred compensation plan."

The tax return also reported Mrs. Cheney's royalty income from her book "A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America," salary income from the American Enterprise Institute, and a director's retirement benefit from Reader's Digest, on whose board of directors she served until 2003.