Bushes, Cheneys Reaped Tax Benefits

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Bushes, Cheneys Reaped Tax Benefits


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Apr 13, 7:37 PM (ET)

By JENNIFER LOVEN

(AP) President Bush walks with his dog Barney after returning from spending the Easter holiday at his...
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney reaped tax benefits last year from the cuts that they pushed through Congress and that Democrats have criticized as a boon to the rich.

The government's top two executives, both wealthy men, paid smaller shares of their income in federal taxes in 2003 than in the year before, according to returns released Tuesday by the White House.

Bush and his wife, Laura, paid $227,490 in federal income taxes - or about 28 percent of their $822,126 in adjusted gross income. For 2002, the Bushes paid about 31 percent of their adjusted gross income - slightly higher at $856,056 - in federal taxes, for a total of $268,719.

The difference from one year to the next was even more pronounced for Cheney. He and his wife, Lynne, owed $253,067 in 2003 federal taxes - about 20 percent of their $1.3 million in adjusted gross income. In 2002, the Cheneys earned less but paid more, owing 29 percent - or $341,114 - of their $1.2 million in income.