Friday, April 14, 2006

The Human Fund

The White House today provided summaries of the president and vice president's tax returns. While the return of the Bushes is par for the course for elite Texans who also collect a government salary, the Cheneys' return is presented in a way clearly intended to fend off anticipated criticism about their finances. Much of the summary describes a convoluted transaction arising from the fact that Dick still owns a bunch of assets from his Halliburton days, but has promised the proceeds thereof to charities; because he still owns them there were substantial estimated tax payments which he paid in advance to the charities last December and will collect as a refund now.

Nevertheless, separately from the Halliburton assets, he's still getting a paycheck from them for 2005 (deferred compensation from 1999) that exceeds his VP salary ($211,000 versus $205,000); the summary is at pains to emphasise that this amount was agreed in 1999 and so is not connected to Halliburton's actual performance since then (leaving aside the possibility that in an alternative universe, they might have gone bankrupt in the meantime).

But the main entertainment comes from Lynne's income; she has significant royalty income from books whose titles tell the story:

America: A Patriotic Primer, A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Woman, When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots, A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America

Strangely enough, there is no mention of her novel, Sisters, described in detail on the valuable website whitehouse.org, which the White House has tried in the past to shut down.

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