Investment income earned by President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has nearly tripled since 1997, but their overall income is down, largely because of a drop in royalties from Mrs. Clinton's book, tax returns released Friday show. The Clintons reported adjusted gross income of $416,039 for 1999, down about $88,000 from 1998. That still placed them in the top 2 percent income bracket, a group that pays 40 percent of all U.S. income taxes. The first couple paid $92,104 in income taxes and could have claimed a refund of $2,278, but they decided instead to apply that to next year's tax bill. The average paid by all taxpayers in their income group was just over $71,000 in 1997, the most recent year complete IRS statistics are available. Their earnings included Clinton's $200,000 salary and $185,857 in capital gains, dividend and interest income mainly from their blind trust. The capital gains income of $179,849 last year compares with $65,028 in 1997, mirroring the gains earned by millions of other investors during the stock market's boom. The Clintons' blind trust did a little better in 1998, earning $200,318. Royalties from Mrs. Clinton's 1996 book, It Takes A Village, amounted to $20,214 last year, down from almost $282,000 in 1997 and $74,289 in 1998. The White House said the book's earnings were donated to "charities across the country that support children and their families." Also given to charity was $12,000 from the Henry G. Freeman Jr. Pin Money Fund, established in Freeman's 1912 will as income for whoever is the spouse of the president. All told, the Clintons made $39,200 in charitable contributions. Like about a third of all Americans, the Clintons claimed itemized deductions, a total of $81,358. As new owners of a home in Chappaqua, N.Y., the Clintons claimed $31,931 in deductions for state and local income taxes and for real estate taxes. They also claimed a mortgage deduction of $10,714. The Gores Vice President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper, paid $59,178 in income taxes for 1999, according to tax returns released Friday. Two years after they were ridiculed for giving $353 to charity, the Gores reported $15,000 in contributions for last year, almost the same as 1998. The Gores reported adjusted gross income of $240,792, placing them in the lower part of the top 2 percent income bracket. That includes Gore's salary of $175,400. Gore earned $13,989 in royalties from his book, Earth in the Balance, which was published in 1992. Rental income from a residence in Arlington, Va., and from the Gore family farm in Carthage, Tenn., added $40,820. The Gores reported $29,260 in capital gains from investments. The Gores could have claimed a refund of $2,873, but they decided to apply it to their 2000 tax bill. The average tax for people in the Gores' bracket was $71,037 in 1997, the most recent year for which complete IRS statistics are available. The Gores claimed itemized deductions of $25,638, including $12,107 in home-mortgage interest and $1,158 in real estate taxes. They list their home as Carthage, not the vice president's official residence in Washington. The Bushes Texas Gov. George W. Bush was filing for an extension to send his return in after Monday's deadline. Bush made an estimated tax payment to his blind trust, which in turn will pay the IRS, spokeswoman Mindy Tucker said. No figure was released. Bush is paid $115,345, but has transferred his daily salary of about $300 to the lieutenant governor when he is campaigning. In a financial disclosure report filed last May, Bush said he owned $7-million in Treasury notes and estimated the blind trust's worth at $1-million. He had two money market accounts worth up to $1.25-million each. In 1998, Bush and his wife, Laura, paid $3.77-million in taxes on an income estimated at $18.4-million, the bulk of it from the sale of the Texas Rangers baseball team of which Bush had been managing partner.