.TERESA'S TAXES

[jonessa2]

<span style='font-family:verdana'>TERESA'S TAXES (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/20819.htm)
<span style='color:navy'>NYPOSTONLINE.COM,
By HOWIE CARR
May 14, 2004 -- BOSTON</span>

'<span style='color:red'>WE don't pay taxes,&quot; Leona Helmsley famously said in 1989. &quot;Only the little people pay taxes.&quot;</span>

<span style='color:navy'>Leona Helmsley, meet</span> <span style='color:red'>Teresa Heinz Kerry,</span> *<span style='color:navy'>second wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Sen. John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts.

Kerry's campaign issued a &quot;summary&quot; of Teresa's 2003 income taxes this week - a couple of hours after the release of the video of the beheading of Nicholas Berg in Iraq. The campaign is often criticized for its stumbles, but this tactic succeeded brilliantly: Coverage of Teresa's taxes has been minimal.

The widow of the late Sen. John Heinz, Teresa is worth $550 million, owns at least five mansions and controls a corporation that owns a Gulfstream V private jet worth $35 million. The widow Heinz, who is five years older than her second husband, does pay taxes, but only up to a point. Last year, according to the &quot;summary,&quot; she paid income taxes of about $750,000 on an income of $5.1 million.</span>..... (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/20819.htm)

Quote[/b] ]<span style='color:red'><span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>So what should be done about all these plutocrats, driving around in their families' SUVs, piloting million-dollar powerboats, buying $7,000 bicycles and diverting streams in Idaho to water the lawns in front of their ski-resort mansions?

&quot;We need to ask the wealthiest people in our country,&quot; Sen. Kerry said last September, &quot;to bear some of the burden.&quot;</span></span>

<span style='color:navy'><span style='font-size:9pt;line-height:100%'>Somewhere, Leona Helmsely is blushing.</span></span>

<span style='color:000000' >Howie Carr is a columnist for the Boston Herald and a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host.</span></span>

[jonessa2]

TERESA'S TAXES (http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/20819.htm)

Quote[/b] ]Even the pro-Kerry Boston Globe described Teresa's untaxable bond holdings as &quot;vast,&quot; but how just vast is a matter of conjecture - at the very least $50 million, according to one accountant.

The best source of information about Teresa's wealth comes from her husband's Senate financial-disclosure reports, which, to be fair, are listed on his campaign Web site. But the asset and income categories set up by Congress are notoriously vague.

Quote[/b] ]Most investors stick with bonds issued in their home states, which shelters them against state income taxes. But when you're worth $550 million, you have to diversify. Teresa has bond holdings from at least 14 states, plus Puerto Rico. She's invested in O'Hare Airport bonds in Chicago, for example, in addition to bonds issued by four New York City or state authorities.

Quote[/b] ]Of course there's nothing wrong with owning tax-free bonds. But the fact remains, they are guaranteed by &quot;revenue streams,&quot; i.e., taxes paid for by people who, say, travel through O'Hare, or pay sewerage bills in Lackawanna. And their hard-earned dollars go to finance the lavish lifestyles of gold diggers and gigolos who made their money the old-fashioned way - they married it.

[stan25]

No wonder she didn’t want to give out her tax returns to the public. She didn’t want the public to know what kind of cheapskates the Kerrys’ really are. And these people want to raise the taxes on people making $200,000 and over? Sheeesh what hypocrites. They needed this excuse to cover their tracks on taxes.

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