President George W. Bush may be commander in chief, but his total income was less than half of Vice President Dick Cheney’s in 2006, according to tax information released by the White House on Friday.

Bush and his wife Laura paid US$186,378 in federal taxes on income of US$642,905 for 2006, similar to the previous year, according to returns released by the White House.

The Bushes overpaid their taxes by US$19,361 and chose to apply that refund to next year’s taxes.

Bush reported income of US$397,768 from the taxable portion of the total US$400,000 a year salary for being president, and investment income from trusts.

In the previous year, Bush and his wife reported taxable income of US$618,694 and paid US$187,768 in federal income taxes.

Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, owe US$413,326 in taxes on income of US$1.6 million for 2006, according to a statement from their tax lawyers released by the White House. A copy of the actual tax return, which was filed on Friday, was not released.

While the Cheneys reported more than twice the amount of taxable income than the Bushes, it was down from the previous year’s US$1.96 million taxable income for 2005 on which they owed federal taxes of US$529,636.

During 2006, the Cheneys paid US$464,789 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments, which resulted in a $51,463 overpayment that they chose to apply to their 2007 estimated tax payments.

Cheney’s income included his US$208,575 salary and a pension benefit of $27,500 which he received as a former director of Union Pacific Corp. and became eligible for in 2006 when he reached age 65.

Mrs. Cheney reported book royalty income of US$472,626 that included a partial royalty advance on a book she is writing about growing up in Wyoming.

She reported a salary of about US$80,000 for her work at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, and a pension benefit of US$32,000 as a former director of Reader’s Digest.

The Bushes contributed US$78,100 to churches and charitable organizations, including the Crawford Volunteer Fire Department, the Federal Government’s Combined Federal Campaign, Operation Smile, Martha’s Table, the Salvation Army, Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the Yellow Ribbon Support Center, the White House said.