TV Residual Boosts Clintons’ Income

A booming stock market and an old late-night TV appearance helped boost President and Mrs. Clinton’s income by more than $50,000 last year. They paid federal tax of $75,437 on income of $316,074.

Included in the president’s earnings was $2,423 in royalties from a 1988 appearance on the old “Tonight” show with Johnny Carson on NBC-TV. The money was earned from sales of a videotape anthology of Carson’s best shows, said White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry.

“Everybody needs tax relief, including Bill and Hillary Clinton,” McCurry told reporters. He said he had asked Clinton if he paid his fair share and was told, “Sure looks like it.”

The Clintons paid 23.8% of their gross income in federal income tax, about average for couples at their income level.

In 1994, the Clintons reported income of $263,900 and paid tax of $55,313.

The biggest difference between the two years, McCurry noted, was in capital gains. In 1994, the Clintons earned $38,000 on profits from the sale of investments held in a blind trust. Those gains totaled $88,441 last year.