A look at their tax returns shows that 1996 was a pretty good year for the people living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, earned more than $1 million last year.
It was the first time the Clintons had reached that level, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said Monday.
In some ways, the Clintons’ tax returns are like those of many other career-oriented couples. The Clintons gave generously to charity, they took a mortgage-interest deduction and Mrs. Clinton earned more than her husband.
The Clintons had an adjusted gross income of $1,065,101, of which $200,000 was the president’s salary and $742,852 was from royalties on Mrs. Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village,” McCurry said. Their federal income tax was $199,791.
A year ago, the Clintons earned $316,074 and paid federal income taxes of $75,437.
McCurry said the president and his wife more than satisfied their 1996 tax obligation through withholding and by making estimated payments. The Clintons elected to apply their $5,876 overpayment to their 1997 returns, he said.
McCurry said Mrs. Clinton would not profit from her book. After paying federal and Arkansas state taxes on the royalties, she will give the remainder to children’s hospitals and other charities.
The Clintons donated $609,300 to charity, primarily from Mrs. Clinton’s book proceeds, but claimed only $532,551 in charitable deductions, or half their adjusted gross income, which is the legal limit. They will apply the remaining deductions to next year’s returns, McCurry said.
On the eve of income tax deadline day, the Clinton administration unveiled proposals for tax simplification, including ones to benefit newspaper carriers with savings accounts and single parents who live in their parents’ homes and pay for day care.
The package has more than 60 provisions. Most are highly technical, but a handful potentially benefit millions of Americans.
To pay for them, the administration would raise $6.1 billion over 10 years by tightening rules on tax-free real estate swaps and by cracking down on corporations that temporarily unload foreign stock to avoid paying taxes.
One proposal would free 1.7 million dependents, typically children, from filing a separate tax return. Under current law, dependents with $700 in earned income in 1998 (newspaper carriers, for instance) must file a return and pay taxes on all unearned income, including interest on a savings account.
Under the proposal, which would require congressional approval, the dependent wouldn’t have to file unless unearned income exceeds $700, or if the combination of earned and unearned income exceeds the standard deduction, currently $4,100.
