Posted on 07/14/2004 6:24:34 PM PDT by wagglebee
If John Kerry wins the presidency, his household will be the richest ever to occupy the White House. Kerry's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, controls a vast fortune estimated by a Los Angeles Times study to fall somewhere between $900 million to $3.2 billion. Through a series of entirely legal maneuvers, Kerry is attempting to conceal from American voters the full extent of his wife's wealth and her corporate holdings — and the fact that she apparently manages to pay a remarkably small amount of taxes.
Such evidence as one is able to assemble from publicly available information raises deeply disturbing questions. The Kerry campaign has disclosed Mrs. Kerry's 2003 income as $5,115,000. Using a conservative estimate of her wealth at $1 billion — at the low end of the Los Angeles Times' estimates — then we can easily see that her investments yielded only a miniscule one half of one percent last year.
In 2003 even Treasury bills yielded twice that much. Dividends on the S&P 500 yielded three times that much. Long-term Treasury bonds yielded eight times that much. If Mrs. Kerry's investment income really was only one half of one percent, then she is perhaps the world's worst investor. Or if her income is in fact greater, and she has found some way to minimize it for tax purposes, then Mrs. Kerry may be the world's greatest cheat.
Let's put this in terms that people of less extreme wealth can relate to. If you had $100,000 invested last year and your investment income was only $500 — the same percentage as Mrs. Kerry's income — then something would be very much out of whack.
Perhaps much of Mrs. Kerry's wealth is held in various types of trusts, the income of which is not reported on her personal tax returns. But if that's the explanation, then disclosing only her personal tax returns would be a deceptive exercise in making her income seem as small as possible to voters.
Or perhaps Mrs. Kerry's taxable income has been greatly reduced by legitimate deductions, such as contributions to charity (including her support of liberal political causes like the Tides Foundation). Maybe Mrs. Kerry has found a way to take deductions in connection with her Gulfstream jet, her $5-million ski chalet in Idaho, her $9 million oceanfront "cottage" in Nantucket, her $4 million estate in western Pennsylvania, or the $6.9 million five-story Boston mansion she purchased with her husband.
We can't know exactly what is out of whack with Mrs. Kerry's income, if anything, because she and her husband have always chosen to file separate tax returns. Mrs. Kerry's separate returns have never been made part of the public record.
The Kerry campaign said in March that it will make the first two pages of Mrs. Kerry's Form 1040 available to the public in October, when her tax preparers finalize it. This will give voters no more than a handful of days to consider what little is disclosed there, before going to the polls on November 2.
Even then, the first two pages of Mrs. Kerry's Form 1040 are a mere summary that will disclose virtually nothing we don't already know. They will not disclose specific holdings; income, profits, or losses from individual investments or partnerships; or whether or not Mrs. Kerry utilizes potentially abusive tax shelters or off-shore entities. Mrs. Kerry's reported taxable income will remain suspiciously small in proportion to reasonable estimates of her vast wealth. And voters will have no explanation as to why.
The Kerry campaign justifies this last-minute pre-election peep at Mrs. Kerry's wealth by claiming that George W. Bush did the same thing during the 2000 election with his 1999 returns. But Kerry fails to mention that Governor and Mrs. Bush's entire joint Form 1040 for 1998 — the prior tax year — was made available. By the standard set by candidate Bush, Mrs. Kerry should release her entire 2002 Form 1040 immediately — not just the first two pages — and she should do so now.
The Kerry campaign argues that more complete disclosure would compromise Mrs. Kerry's right to privacy. But surely a woman who serially marries senators understands that, from time to time, she may have to forfeit that right.
Liberals have argued that Mrs. Kerry's personal fortune has nothing to do with her husband — after all, she married it. But then again, so did he.
Legitimate concerns extend beyond wondering just how rich Mrs. Kerry really is, and whether she paid her fair share of taxes. There are also questions about power, influence, and conflict of interest. According to the Los Angeles Times, Mrs. Kerry's "money is actively managed every day of the year, providing capital to Gannett, Anheuser-Busch, Pfizer and Procter & Gamble, among many others." Any of those companies would have a keen interest in Mrs. Kerry’s husband’s policies as president.
Already Kerry's economic proposals seem tuned to serve his wife's economic interests. His proposal last March to end tax breaks for U.S. corporations that do business overseas was designed with a loophole that would let the H. J. Heinz Company — the centerpiece of Mrs. Kerry's family fortune — keep its overseas tax breaks, and get a lower domestic tax rate at the same time.
Voters of both parties should demand immediate and full disclosure of Teresa Heinz Kerry's holdings and tax returns. There is ample precedent: In 1984 the husband of Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro made his tax returns public in response to pressure from voters. Today the stakes are greater in every way. Mrs. Kerry’s disclosure should be no less.
Yet, the anti-capitalist Dims want their Emperor.
If my old lady was worth 3+ billion I'd work for peanuts all day too trying to "help" the less fortunate with my great ideas!
Afterwards, I'd take my private limo to my private helicopter, fly to my private island and "Thank God I was born!"
I don't have to live like the common man.
They don't give a crap who gets it (the presidency) as long as their power over the citizens of this country is returned.
Diagree..the Dems reallys were stupid on this...This will come out..public presure will mount. They obviously think they can stonewall it..but they can't. They should have gotten it in January..it would have died down by now..this is the equivalent of the Wellstone Memorial service..it'll be a disaster for them...it's even worse since Edwards released everything..the comparison betweent he two won't hold up...
Keep in mind when trying to calculate the 'earnings' on assets (wealth) that not all assets that contribute to one's 'wealth' are earning assets. You don't earn anything on assets such as; houses, planes, boats, cars. Too many people with little to no knowledge of finances and income get very confused when looking at someone else's wealth, income, and taxes.
" ... power, influence, and conflict of interest."
If there were a President Kerry, do you think Teresa would allow all that money to go into a blind trust, as is the custom now? Or would Kerry insist that it's not his money, "it's the family's" ... just like he insisted with the Heinz-Kerry SUVs?
Pfffttt! With those kind of numbers, I'm worth somewhere between $5.97 and $1,000,000.
FMCDH(BITS)
You forgot to mention that Teresa Heinz Kerry owns $250,000 worth of stock in the Enron Company. Or, whatever the Enron company is now. And that she is a good buddy of Ken Lay, inviting him out to her mansion on her 87 acre estate in Pa. for a soiree. and all....
Or a woman who fancies planting her lard ass in our White House. Right to privacy indeed.
What they really mean is the right to hide her true assets and tax records so they won't be exposed as the wealthy, elitist, liberal, snot nose liars and hypocrites that they are.
...The Kerry campaign said in March that it will make the first two pages of Mrs. Kerry's Form 1040 available to the public in October, when her tax preparers finalize it.,,,
I need to ask a stupid question. How come I have to pay my taxes by April 15 and Mrs Kerry can wait till October to get her preparers to do hers.
Kerry has said he wnats to tax Americas richest folks but Mrs, Kerry's taxes prove what we all knew already the truly rich hide their money with tax lawyers, tax shelters Foundations they run. They dont pay taxes they hire tax accountants.The ones who bare the burden are in the middle or slighty well off. Kerry doesnt fool anyone but the most stupid of democrats with his tax the rich BS
I would love to see A&E do a biography on Sen. Hienz, the reason both of these gold diggers are living so high on the hog, but alas it won't happen.
The real reason she doesn't want to make her taxes public is that would show she is the major contributor to many causes that are anti-American or are actively trying to overthrow our government.
> ... estimated by a Los Angeles Times ...
a. Why does the LAT care?
b. Who put them onto the story?
The LAT, along with the NYT and WP, are the first three
FAX numbers on the DNC Talking Points call list. These
"news"papers rarely print news. They mostly send messages.
This could be normal low-level Clinton sabotage to
prevent K&E from being elected, or it could be some
other Democrat operatives (possibly the LAT bosses)
who don't even want these two nominated (since the
LAT probably realizes the K&E ticket is doomed).
Between the polls, the Heinz-favoring legislation,
some actual tax fraud, Kerry's fragile health, the
DNC easily has enough to get him to step aside. But
if the Clintons want him to run & lose, then run &
lose he will.
Pop media lives by soundbites
Halliburton = BAD
Big Oil = BAD
Cheney = BAD
Big business = BAD
Unfortunately the people who believe these corollaries do NOT believe that Plaintiff Attorneys affect their lives, and a billion or two among wives, and what she pays in takes, does not seem to matter either.
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