Kerrys Paid Just 12% in Fed Income Tax
Find a Conversation
| Fri, 09-10-2004 - 3:37pm |
>>>>>John Kerry has declined to pay a small, voluntary tax in his home state. The Massachusetts state income tax code contains a provision allowing payers to contribute an extra .6% of their income to benefit the commonwealth. Kerry has consistently failed to pay the extra money, which would have amounted to $687 dollars last year.<<<<<
***********************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/8/04
Contact: Christopher Butler
(202) 785-0266
cbutler@atr.org
Kerrys Paid Just 12% in Federal Income Taxes in 2003
Massachusetts Senator paid skimpy tax bill despite calls for rich to "pay their share"
WASHINGTON, D.C. - John Kerry has repeatedly called for increasing taxes on the "wealthy" so the affluent "pay their fair share" for the "common good." Ironically, John and Theresa Heinz Kerry, who comprise one the richest families in the world, pay relatively little income tax.
Last year, John Kerry and his wife paid just 12% of their combined income in income taxes, despite their assertion that the rich should contribute increased amounts to government coffers. In contrast, President and Mrs. Bush, who had a substantially lower income than the Kerry's, paid over 28% in taxes.
"John Kerry wants other Americans to pay higher taxes while he and his wife manage to pay a rate lower than most of the middle class," said ATR President Grover Norquist. "Apparently, the Kerry's think everyone else should pay higher taxes but them."
In addition to finding loopholes and write-offs to decrease his taxes, John Kerry has declined to pay a small, voluntary tax in his home state. The Massachusetts state income tax code contains a provision allowing payers to contribute an extra .6% of their income to benefit the commonwealth. Kerry has consistently failed to pay the extra money, which would have amounted to $687 dollars last year.
"John Kerry thinks other hardworking Americans should pay more taxes while he and his billionaire wife pay as little as possible," continued Norquist. "The hypocrisy John Kerry shows on his own tax return is not indicative of the character and judgment America needs in our President."
Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all federal and state tax increases. For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Christopher Butler at (202) 785-0266 or by email at cbutler@atr
http://www.atr.org/pressreleases/2004/pr-kerrystaxes-9-7-04.htm

Pages
I suspect that story is just spin... Yeah, I could reduce my income by making lots of charitable donations, and someone could claim I pay almost no income tax!
Kerry = Texas Toast
Amazing. And he's one of the ones complaining about the "Tax Cuts For The Rich".
Kerry and his wife filed seperately, and Kerry paid 23%. Bush paid 31%
THE NATION
Bush, Kerry Taxes Reported
The president and first lady earned $727,083 last year and paid $227,490 in federal levies.
By Edwin Chen, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush reported taxable income of $727,083 for 2003 and paid $227,490 in federal income taxes, the White House said Tuesday.
The couple's income came from the president's $400,000 annual salary and investments from the trusts in which their assets were held.
The Bushes contributed $68,360 to churches and charitable organizations, including the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David and Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas. The couple also donated to St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, where they often attend services.
Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, reported $395,338 in taxable income and paid $90,575 in federal income taxes.
Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, filed separately.
Kerry earned $89,000 from a book he wrote, "A Call to Service." His campaign said he was paying the taxes on the book's proceeds and donating the balance to charities, including the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans and Goodwill Industries.
Vice President Dick Cheney and his wife, Lynne, reported taxable income of $813,226, including $178,437 in deferred payment from Halliburton Co., the Texas oil services company where Cheney once served as chief executive officer.
The couple owed $253,067 in federal taxes for 2003. The Cheneys last year paid $258,779 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. They elected to apply the resulting $5,712 overpayment to their 2004 estimated tax payment, the vice president's office said.
The Cheneys donated $321,141 to charity in 2003, mainly from royalties that Lynne Cheney earned from Simon & Shuster for her books.
The vice president's office said that Cheney's income from Halliburton, which received multibillion-dollar government contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, was not linked to the firm's financial well-being. Cheney's office said that his deferred compensation from Halliburton last year was part of a five-year, "unalterable" agreement reached at the end of 1998.
"The amount of deferred compensation received by the vice president is fixed and is not affected by Halliburton's current economic performance or earnings in any way," the vice president's office said in a statement.
Cheney's continuing ties to Halliburton have drawn criticism from some Democrats, who question the nature of the relationship.
Cheney's annual salary as vice president is $198,600.
According to calculations by Bloomberg News, tax cuts that Bush championed and last year signed into law saved his family about $23,000. They saved the Cheneys as much as $60,000.
A new 15% rate on dividend income saved the Bushes $2,586, and lower rates and tax breaks for married people saved them $20,600, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Cheney and his wife saved $19,855 in taxes on dividends they received and as much as $19,350 on capital gains from investments. Lower tax rates for couples saved them about $21,000, Bloomberg calculations showed.
The Bushes declined to designate $3 each of their tax money to help finance presidential elections. But the Cheneys chose to divert $6 in tax money for that purpose.
http://www.latimes.com/business/taxes/la-na-taxes14apr14,0,4942895.story?coll=la-headlines-business-taxes
dablacksox
Cynic: a blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be.---Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary.
Wow, you can't be a Democrat because I have never heard a Democrat say that about a rich person!!!
Ahh, but they only worry how much money Republican rich people pay in taxes. I forgot.
Nice try by Kerry and Clinton. They are the rich, lol. What do they pay for taxes?
Pages