Free Republic

This article in the Wash Post is classic slant. Read it and see for yourself...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60450-2004Sep3.html

You can write the editor at letters@washpost.com

I have...

Dear Editor:

The article "Edwards Releases Decade of Tax Returns" (by Vanessa Williams, Saturday September 4, 2004), is an example of not-so-subtle bias. The article details the tax returns of John Edwards over the years of 1994-2003, and claims that he paid "more than 34 percent" of income over that period in federal taxes, but the annual percentages are not broken down or reported. The article goes on to briefly mention John Kerry's reported income and federal tax paid for 2003, and the income and tax reported by Kerry's wife Teresa Heinz Kerry for 2003, but with no mention of these figures in percentages (in actual fact, Kerry's tax bill for 2003 represents 23 percent of his reported income, and that of Heinz Kerry represents 11.5 percent of hers). On the other hand, George Bush is reported simply as having paid "28 percent in federal taxes" on $822,000 in income, and Dick Cheney, "former chief executive of Halliburton," as having paid 20 percent on income of $1.3 million.

The effect of not reporting Edwards's annual percentages, and of not reporting Kerry's and Heinz's in terms of percentages, is to compare Bush's and Cheney's tax payments of 28% and 20% respectively unfavorably against Edwards's "34%" over a decade. Uncritical readers are of course left wondering why Bush and Cheney are not paying their "fair share."

It might have also been fair to mention that there are valid, perfectly legal reasons why there are such variations in federal taxes paid, such as the variability of capital gains (and their lower tax rates) as percentages of individuals' reportable annual income, or charitable deductions. I suspect that the vast majority of Teresa Heinz Kerry's reported income for 2003 is interest income and capital gains, and that she is a generous charitable giver, so I do not fault her for paying "only" 11.5% of her income in federal taxes. It would be interesting to know what percentages of his income in each of the years 1998-2003 Edwards paid in federal taxes. My guess would be that much of his reported income in those years is capital gains, and that the percentages of taxes paid would be in the 20-25% range.

Contrast Hillary's behavior. At first word of his husband's hospitalization, she should have immediately taken off to be at his side. What did she do? She held a press conference in Buffalo before going to NYC. Then she has another press conference on the steps of Columbia Prez Hosp Friday night. Like monarchy, she waves her hand over the fawning press and gives them absolution... and the weekend off... intoning that there will be no more news till the surgery (damn, I expected q8h reports from Hill, "The president is resting comfortably. His urine output over the last 8hrs was 480cc. EKG normal. Blood cocaine level..." She signed off by putting in a jibe and a plug for socialized medicine, saying that her husband is getting excellent care and that it's a shame that not all Americans can get health coverage (as if Columbia Prez would look anything like it does now if under Hillarycare). The woman is beneath contempt.