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?
(Image: johnmccain.com)
It’s 2004 all over again. A presidential candidate has released his own tax returns – but not that of his spouse. The GOP cries… ok?
Yep. This week, Sen. John McCain and Republican presidential candidate released his 2007 tax returns – without information about his wife. Cindy McCain filed separately, something that they have continued to do since they were married 27 years ago.
On paper, McCain looks almost modest compared to the other candidates: his total income was a mere $405,409 including about $23,000 in Social Security income, while the Clintons and Obamas reported joint income in the millions. McCain’s income does not include income attributable to his wife, Cindy, heiress to a fortune from her father’s beer distribution company, Hensley and Company where she serves as Chairperson. The web site claims that Hensley is “the third largest Anheuser-Busch wholesaler in the nation (out of nearly 800) with sales that in 2007 exceeded 23 million cases of A-B beers sold and nearly a 60 percent market share.”
McCain is reportedly the 9th most wealthy Senator in Congress; the McCains have assets of at least $36.5 million. This does not include the more than $100 million in assets reportedly owned by Cindy McCain individually.
McCain donated 26% of his income to charity compared to the Clintons’ 15% and the Obamas’ 6%. It is worth making two important notes to this statistic: 1, if all of the McCains’ charitable contributions were donated out of John McCain’s income (we don’t know this to be true), this number would be artificially compressed; and 2, almost all of the charitable donations were made to the John and Cindy McCain Family Foundation.
You’ll recall that John Kerry was heavily criticized in 2004 when his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, refused to release her tax return and the information related to her children. One wonders if there will be a similar backlash for McCain.
You can read more about the candidates’ tax returns here.
