Mrs. Heinz Kerry paid $798,820 in state and federal income taxes in 2003, approximately 35 percent of her gross taxable income, according to figures and federal tax forms she released today.Slice 1: We don't include state taxes in the debates about federal tax rates -- they vary from state to state obviously. So forget the $798,820 and make it $627,150. Tax rate goes from 35% down to 27%.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry paid $627,150 in federal income taxes on gross taxable income of $2,291,137, primarily from dividends and interest she receives from Heinz family trusts. In addition, she paid an additional $171,670 in state income taxes and had $2,781,791 of tax exempt interest income from state, municipal and public entity bonds. These taxes are separate from and in addition to the income taxes paid directly by the Heinz family trusts and by other beneficiaries who receive income from those trusts.
Slice 2: Forget the horsepucky about counting the $2,781,791 separately from the income used to calculate the tax rate. Your EFFECTIVE tax rate is YOUR TOTAL FEDERAL TAX PAID DIVIDED BY YOUR TOTAL INCOME. Period. So $2,291,137 + $2,781,791 = $5,072,928.
BOTTOM LINE: $627,150 divided by $5,072,928 yields an effective tax rate for Teresa of 12.4%. Sorry Teresa, I pay a way higher effective tax rate than you do -- and trust me when I say that I don't have multiple mansions spread around the planet. But just do go on moralizing about how I need to pay more taxes to support the poor so the feds can bribe them with subsidies to vote for Democrats...
UPDATE: Ah, you say. Covering up by not mentioning W's return? Let's take a look at the official press release:
President and Mrs. Bush Release 2003 Tax ReturnThat would seem to indicate a tax rate of 31.3%. But what are they covering up in "non-taxable" income? Let's dig deeper by looking at the actual return. Turns out that instead of non-taxable income, W has mostly made charitable contributions as listed in the release that raise his total income to $822,126. So his real effective tax rate is $227,490 divided by $822,126 yielding an effective rate of 27.7%. Over twice Teresa's effective tax rate on less than 1/6th of her income.
April 13, 2004
PRESIDENT AND MRS. BUSH RELEASE 2003 TAX RETURN
President and Mrs. George W. Bush reported taxable income of $727,083 for the tax year 2003. This resulted in a total of $227,490 in federal income taxes paid by President and Mrs. Bush.
The President's 2003 income included salary earned as President and investment income from the trusts in which their assets are held.
President and Mrs. Bush contributed $68,360 to churches and charitable organizations, including Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, Tarrytown United Methodist Church, St. John's Church, the M.D. Anderson Clinic, and the Federal Government's Combined Federal Campaign.
Let's face it folks, a flat tax in the 17-23% range would be a cut for some. And interestingly, W would be one of them. But it would be a tax hike on the truly rich like Teresa who play the (legal) tax shelter game for all it's worth. And poor dumb slobs like me would be mostly unaffected...
ANOTHER UPDATE: The NY Post via PowerLine agrees and then some:
Experts on lifestyles of the rich and famous say that $5 million in income wouldn't come close to covering the Kerrys' golden lifestyle with five estates, multiple cars, a $3.5 million Gulfstream V jet complete with plasma TV, gold fixtures and two bathrooms, a yacht worth $750,000 to $1 million and servants in every location.Oh, yeah -- and they point out that she doesn't pay FICA taxes either. I guess if I was her I wouldn't hire her either.
The Kerrys own a $12 million waterfront Nantucket estate, a $6 million mansion in Washington's tony Georgetown, a $12.8 million mansion in Boston's Beacon Hill, a $14 million estate on 90 acres outside Pittsburgh and an $8 million ski chalet near Sun Valley, Idaho.
The Los Angeles Times, after a detailed study, last June concluded that Mrs. Kerry is almost certainly a billionaire, worth between $900 million and a staggering $3.2 billion. Forbes magazine has estimated her fortune at $700 million.
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