Teresa's Taxes Come Due

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BenSlain
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Teresa's Taxes Come Due

Post by BenSlain » 10-28-2004 12:01 AM

The Point was one of the few media organizations that defended Theresa Heinz Kerry's decision to not release her income tax returns when she announced she would not do so earlier this year. She quietly released part of her return the other day, six months after the original tax filing due date. Now that she has, let's examine them.


She reported income of $5,070,000, a fraction of her estimated one billion dollars. She claimed $2.78 million or more than half her income as tax-exempt. Of the remaining $2.29 million she paid $627,150 in income taxes. Heinz Kerry's tax liability on her total income represented a 12.32% tax rate.

According to the latest IRS figures, her tax liability is less than the average for middle class taxpayers, earning between $28,000 and $56,000, whose tax rates was 15.9%. This is 3-1/2 percentage points more than the rate Heinz Kerry paid.


According to Congress's bipartisan Joint Economic Committee tax filers reporting income of one million dollars or more paid an average of $944,241 or 50% more than the total amount paid by Heinz Kerry.


And the top one percent of all income filers paid a rate of 27.5% or almost 2-1/4 times the rate she paid.


Why does this matter? First of all, I support tax relief across the board for all Americans. I think government takes too much money from the people especially since Congress doesn't spend it wisely.


Unlike the average American, Heinz Kerry can afford the best tax lawyers around that can set-up schemes allowing her to shelter more than half of her income. More noteworthy, though, is what her husband has been saying. He campaigns that he will raise taxes on those earning $200,000 or more. He says this with a straight face and with the full knowledge that his wife has sheltered 55% of her income. And if he truly believed all wealthy Americans should pay more in taxes than shouldn't he start at home and convince his own wife to simply write a check to the U.S. Treasury? Or does he believe the top one percent should exclude him and his wife from paying what he says should be their fair share?


And that's the Point.

http://www.newscentral.tv/thepoint/thepoint.shtml
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Re: Teresa's Taxes Come Due

Post by Liz » 10-28-2004 01:11 AM

BenSlain wrote:
Why does this matter? First of all, I support tax relief across the board for all Americans. I think government takes too much money from the people especially since Congress doesn't spend it wisely.

And that's the Point.



Great post BenSlain

Don't expect much from them Bobcat.............just like they ignore their closing of American plants to open ones overseas while running on a STOP OUR JOBS FROM GOING OVERSEAS platform.

I don't like either idiot that will end up being our pres but it is the lesser of two evils I must choose. They all end up taking too much of my money to waste on pet projects while they write theirs off as tax exempt.:mad:

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Post by Iris » 10-28-2004 02:07 AM

Thank you for posting this, Ben -- but since they want a subscription I don't wanna give them (I don't want their advertising) in order to see the rest of the article, would you please be so kind as to post the remainder here?

Yeah, well, it sucks, doesn't it? I agree!

Of course, Teresa doesn't make the laws; she just follows them. And in case there's any doubts, she got her money from a rich Republican Senator, her late husband.

Now, please try to follow along. The Republican party is fond of claiming that rich people pay the majority of the taxes in this country -- in fact, that was their defensive battle cry when the bulk of Bush's tax breaks went to the super-wealthy and the rest of us yelled about it. However, Teresa's tax disclosure makes it abundantly clear (in case anyone was dumb enough not to know it already) that this is a big lie.

Rich people make out like bandits on taxes in this country, insofar as their total income, as Teresa's tax return clearly illustrates. The reason for this is very simple: the very wealthy can invest a huge percentage of their money into tax-free muni-bonds, while the rest of us are tapped out just keeping our heads above water, and/or sending our kids to college, and can't find enough tax loopholes to say we can.

More importantly, this article points out why Bush is wrong to give tax breaks to the very wealthy, and Kerry is right to want to rescind those tax breaks.

If we look deeper, it also points up the need for much stronger tax reform (though *definitely* not a V.A.T.). Because of the tax-free muni bonds, even Kerry's plan is liable to put the burden on the lower-wealthy ($200-500K/year) while still letting the very wealthy off the hook. Even so, one of my friends who was married to a wealthy doctor (probably around $400-500K/year?) told me that she and her hubby and all their friends in that bracket "never paid taxes." She said they used to "sit around the clubhouse and laugh and brag about it." So we already know that something is dreadfully wrong with the system, and that it's the middle class that gets screwed every time. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of you.

In addition, this should make you all really angry at the big tax breaks that Republicans always favor for the big corporations, and for the very wealthy, as Bush has demonstrated repeatedly in the last almsot-four years. Bush is decidedly on the wrong track, as have been other Republican presidents.

Reform is needed, and of the two it's Kerry who is on the right track -- but we need even more than that.

Now, before any of you point out that Bush is planning tax reform, you're going to have to prove that his plan (not yet presented) truly is fair to the poor and the middle classes. If it is, it will be a shocking first.

Oh, and I'm sure there will be more news and commentary on this within a few hours; you need to give people a time to react, as this news is bleeding-edge hot off the Freeper websites.
We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. B. Franklin

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Post by Liz » 10-28-2004 02:36 AM

Great reply Iris
I don't believe that the democrats of today are the answer to our tax troubles either.............or any of the other problems this country faces. If Kerry wants reform, let him start in his own home. Same goes for Bush.
Our government is in dire need of sweeping reform. The best place to start is by doing away with the two party stranglehold IMHO

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Post by Iris » 10-28-2004 03:17 AM

Agreed, Liz, but we're not going to do it on this election. For this time out, it's either Kerry or Bush who will win, and Kerry is by far the better choice.
We must, indeed, all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. B. Franklin

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Post by BenSlain » 10-28-2004 09:59 PM

Hmmm. Iris I don't know why you can't read that page. It's just a local tv station. Do you see the little arrow where it says "the point archives" Just click on the arrow and it opens.
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world.

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Post by CaptainBeyond » 10-28-2004 10:26 PM

Let's face it,the Kings,the rich and powerful have always ruled us.

I really don't see that changing in my lifetime under either political party.Oh sure,they may throw us a morsel or two every now and then to quite us,but in the big picture,nothing changes.

The power brokers are busy as beavers as we speak seeking the next crop of slave labor and despite what we are told,that is exactly what will happen.

You can take any governor or senator in this country and if you look close enough,you will see that they are wealthy,heavily invested in business that exploit cheap labor,and their real mantra is PROFITS.

It is a do as I say mentality that they feed us,yet they continue to grow wealthy.Year after year,our own politicians wealth continues to grow despite the U S economy.It is obvious then that their interests are not vested in this economy.

Just as Teresa has done,there are a whole host of others that do the same while speaking out of the other side of their mouths.If their investments come back to America,then their profit margin falls.All of them from Bush, Kerry,Kennedy,Frist,Rockerfellar,Cheney,to the Royal Family put the screws to the common serfs on a daily basis.As long as their is money to be made at the expense of others,this will continue despite political promises from either party or government.

They are all a buch of dogs and liars!

:-)

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Post by Laird » 10-29-2004 12:01 AM

It doesn't make a wit of difference to me ... I'm just thankful she pays her taxes. I personally have relatives that don't and it gibs the hell out of me because I know there incomes.
"Speak softly and carry a big stick" Teddy Roosevelt

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Post by Mercury » 10-29-2004 10:11 AM

Yes, our tax system is insane. BUT at least Teresa and her husband want to end the "charity for the rich" we call our tax code. But until that day comes, Teresa pays according to the law and rules (rules which -having been written by the rich- favor the rich). So to me, it is especially laudable that the Kerry's are not unpatriotic cheap pigs... they want to tax people like themselves more even though it would mean less $ in their own pockets!

Contrast that with GWB who will TAX US MORE (and future generations via his huge deficits) just so his rich pals can continue to pay peanuts.
Last edited by Mercury on 10-29-2004 10:17 AM, edited 1 time in total.

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