Why is there a big deal about McCain Clinton and Obama to release their tax return information?
What do their, or their spouses incomes have to do with anything?
How will it change the way anyone votes?
Traditionally since the 1960s, candidates for high federal office release their tax returns to show to the public that they are not receiving personal income from sources that may affect their decision-making, are not invested in anything ethically dubious or that would cause a conflict of interest, and so on. An itemized 1040 also shows your charitable contributions, of course.
Not all candidates have released them – Bill Clinton famously refused to do so in 1992 and managed to get elected anyway. Some candidates have released their own returns but not those of their spouses if they file separately.
The middle and lower income classes by definition form a large majority, so it’s important to capture their votes. When a candidate claims to be “of the people” and “one of y’all” it can be very convincing. The only defense to such claims is to also be “of the people” (sometimes tough) or to counter the opponent’s claims by saying something like “My opponent made $2M last year, and I know the coal miners in this state aren’t gullible enough to think that qualifies as middle class.”
Like friedo said, it also opens up avenues of investigation for journalists: conflicts of interest, charities supported with actual donations, lies about charitable donations (it happens!), or ‘sweetheart’ investment profits that indicate a large payoff on a low-risk item.
Integrity is still a big issue for me (and presumably for other voters). I know you have to be rich to run for President today, but I want to know that none of that money is dirty.
It’s also a fairly standard ploy in ‘gotcha politics’ to cull out the newbies. Since most people treat their tax returns as private info, if the candidate on the spot demurs for even a millisecond, his opponents can start yelling, “What do you have to hide?”
In 2004, the fact that Kerry’s wife had a lot of money was important (for reasons not at all clear). This year, the McCain people don’t want his wife’s vast wealth to become an issue.
Note that some sources of income such as “speaking fees” and “book advances” are regarded as some as just bribes in disguise. So knowing how much of that is going on can tell you how sleazy someone might be.
It wasn’t her wealth, it was the tax rate she paid which if I remember was around 12%.
Don’t believe it for one second. This is the very first time I heard about the tax rate issue. I heard over and over and over … about her wealth.
Don’t belive what? She released her tax records:
Ms. Heinz Kerry paid a federal tax of $628,401, which is 12.3 percent of her total income and 27.4 percent of her adjusted gross income.
taxes paid of $628,401 divided by total income of $5,073,554 = 12.39%
Don’t know why you’re just hearing this, it was all over the news. I remembered it and posted it without reference. You can google “Teresa Heinz, tax return,12.3” and read it in all the papers that reported on it.