Filing an Income Tax Return

Angelika On April 15th, we once again dutifully submitted our American tax return. I had to struggle for weeks through a mountain of bizarre forms, but I found it interesting to learn from the news that the American President and Vice President actually disclose their tax returns. Although they are not legally required to do so, it has been customary since Nixon's tax scandal (Jimmy Carter set a shining example in this regard).

We learned that Bush earned $894,880 and paid $240,342 in taxes, which corresponds to a tax rate of 26.9%. Vice President Dick Cheney earned over 36 million dollars and paid about 14.3 million dollars in taxes (39.6%). Bush's income mostly consists of investment income and from the sale of his share in the baseball team "Texas Rangers". Anyone who now complains about the supposedly low tax rates for top earners is mistaken. The percentages only refer to the federal tax and do not take into account local taxes (state/city tax), which are still applicable in most states (though not in Texas, where Bush has lived until now). And of course, the percentage decreases if more deductions are made. For example, Bush donated 16% of his income, which is deductible. Additionally, profits from stock transactions are generally taxed at only 20%. Cheney, on the other hand, paid the top federal tax rate because it mostly involved regular income. And now I hand it over to Michael.