They've got a house in rural Texas and a nice home-office setup on Pennsylvania Avenue. But for tax purposes, President Bush and his wife, Laura, claim a Chicago post office box as their "home address.""As near as I can tell, it's OK."
On the 1040 they signed, which the White House released last week, the listed home address is "Northern Trust Co., P.O. Box 803968, Chicago, IL 60680."
White House spokeswoman Erin Healy said Tuesday that's because Northern Trust handles the blind trust the couple uses for their holdings since Bush took office.
"As near as I can tell, it's OK," Internal Revenue Service spokesman Tim Harms said Tuesday after shopping the residency question among several people at his agency.
In general, the IRS frowns upon the use of a post office box as a home address on tax forms. Instructions for Form 1040 say, "Enter your box number only if your post office does not deliver mail to your home."
Richard Lenet, an accounting professor at Montgomery College in Maryland, said he is confident the Bushes are on firm legal footing, nonetheless.
If ever there was a motto for the Bush administration, that is it.
UPDATE -- From the Oxford Press:
A review of recent presidential income tax returns shows a definite partisan split concerning what home address to list: Democrats have listed the White House. Republicans list an address of the entity that handled their money.
Democrat Bill Clinton listed "1600 Pennsylvania Ave" and Jimmy Carter simply put "The White House."
Republican George H.W. Bush used the New York address of Besemer Trust Co., but it was listed as a "care of" address, not as his home address. Ronald Reagan listed the Los Angeles office of attorney Roy Miller.
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