THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 15, 1995 TAG: 9504150305
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Finishing his taxes just before Monday's deadline, President Clinton is in line for a handsome refund from Uncle Sam. The bottom line for the Clintons: Taxes of $55,313 on income of $263,900, with a refund of $14,418 - half of which they're applying to next year's bill.
Joining the 36 million Americans who were expected to file in the home stretch of the tax season, the Clintons wrapped up final details of their return in a meeting with their accountant and tax attorney Thursday night.
The president's tax bite works out to 21 percent of adjusted gross income, placing Clinton among the 1.2 percent of Americans paying more because of the deficit-reduction law he pushed through in 1993.
The president is not complaining.
In fact, his press secretary used the release of Clinton's tax returns Friday to denounce anew Republican tax-cut proposals that the Democrats argue would unfairly benefit the wealthy.
``It's clear from their returns that they would be enormous beneficiaries of tax cuts as proposed by the Republican majority in Congress, and the president . . . thinks that that's unfair and that tax relief ought to be targeted on middle-income Americans,'' Mike McCurry said. ``As you can see from their return, they fall outside that category.''
The bulk of the Clintons' income came from the president's $200,000 salary, supplemented by $38,000 in capital gains and $21,000 in interest and dividends.
They also recieved $1,421 in residuals for Clinton's 1992 appearance on the ``Arsenio Hall'' show and $259 in belated royalties for an article Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote for Harvard University in 1973.
For the second year, their dividends and interest included $12,000 for Mrs. Clinton from a ``pin money'' fund for first ladies set up in the 1912 will of Henry G. Freeman Jr.
Freeman wrote that he set up the fund because ``the president of the United States receives such a miserable pittance for a man holding the greatest position on Earth.''
Nonetheless, Mrs. Clinton plans to donate the money to charity.
Overall, the Clintons reported $30,000 in charitable contributions during 1994, but declined to publicly itemize their donations.
The Clintons filed a separate return for their 15-year-old daughter, Chelsea, showing taxes of $911 on income of $6,678. The bulk of the money came from royalties on an autobiography by Clinton's mother, the late Virginia Kelley, that were dedicated to Chelsea. by CNB