John McCain on Friday faced accusations of hypocrisy for failing to disclose his wife’s tax records, despite his promise to bring greater transparency and accountability to government.
By Andrew Ward in Washington
John McCain on Friday faced accusations of hypocrisy for failing to disclose his wife’s tax records, despite his promise to bring greater transparency and accountability to government.
The Arizona senator declared income of $419,731 in 2007 – a fraction of the multi-million dollar earnings reported by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rivals.
But the disclosure excluded the income of his wife, Cindy, the heiress to a large Arizona beer distribution company, whose wealth is estimated at more than $100m (€63.5m, £50.2m).
Mrs Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, this month reported joint income of $20.4m for 2007, while Mr Obama and his wife, Michelle, declared $4.2m.
Presidential candidates are under no obligation to release tax records but it has become customary to do so as a signal of transparency.
This year’s disclosures have come at a sensitive moment. Amid a sharp slowdown in the US economy, the candidates are out to prove who is most attuned to the concerns of voters.
Mr McCain and Mrs Clinton have both sought to portray Mr Obama as an “elitist” since his remarks about “bitter” small-town voters.
Mr McCain is considered one of the wealthiest members of Congress because of his wife’s fortune. The McCain campaign said the couple had kept separate finances throughout their 27-year marriage, and that Mrs McCain would not release her tax records in order to protect their children’s privacy.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, described the excuse as a “red herring” and said presidential candidates and their families must accept close scrutiny.
“McCain has been the most outspoken about ethics so he is held to a particularly high standard of transparency,” she said, predicting that Mrs McCain would eventually be forced to disclose her records.
In 2004, John Kerry, the then-Democratic presidential nominee, initially refused to make public the tax returns of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, heir to a $500m fortune, until three weeks before the election.
Mr McCain’s income included a Senate salary of $161,708 and $176,508 in book royalties. The 71-year-old, who would be the oldest first-term president if elected, also received a navy pension of $58,358 and Social Security income of $23,157.
Mr Obama’s household income jumped from $991,296 to $4.2m last year – most of it from book sales – as he launched his bid for the presidency.
The Clintons’ disclosure showed that they earned $109m over the past eight years – mostly from Mr Clinton’s books and speeches – representing a sharp turnround from the heavy debts and legal bills they faced after leaving the White House.
The Financial Times
