Among pressure to prove that there was nothing to hide, Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, announced last week that, despite earlier comments that they would not release Ms. McCain’s tax info, they would do so. The information was made public and is available on McCain’s web site.
Senator McCain had previously released his personal tax information. The Senator and his wife filed separately in 2007, as they had done for the past 27 years.
The McCains did not release the entire tax return – only a two page summary. The summary revealed that Ms. McCain received a salary of $299,418 and interest of $40,488. She reported taxable gains of $743,476. The lion’s share of her income, $4,551,901, was reported on Schedule E. Schedule E includes income from rental real estate, royalties, partnerships, corporations or trusts. The information which was released to the public did not include a Schedule E nor explain the source of that income.
The tax information is only for the tax year 2006. Ms. McCain (like me) had requested an extension for 2007.
In response to the release, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee said, “It is laughable for the campaign to release so little information and say they are being transparent.” The Republican National Committee noted that Ms. McCain had released more information than her predecessor, Teresa Heinz Kerry, in 2004. Both had similarly claimed that such information should be private… should it?
Who Cares? As long as her husband is at arms length with her business, doesn’t precipitate in any of the business decisions, and doesn’t violate any laws while running for or being president, and she doesn’t have any say in what is going on in his, her life should be private, but if she crosses the line all bets are off.
I don’t need to see her tax return since she is not running for public office and she is filing married filing separate as she always has. Now I realize that a great deal of people are trying to make this an issue – please, we have other things to focus on as issues in this election.