Posted on 05/14/2004 6:02:16 AM PDT by Redcoat LI
The widow Heinz's tax-exempt fortune buoyed by our bucks By Howie Carr Recent Columns by Howie Carr Friday, May 14, 2004
``We don't pay taxes,'' Leona Helmsley famously said in 1989. ``Only the little people pay taxes.''
Leona Helmsley, meet Teresa Heinz Kerry, second wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Sen. John Forbes Kerry of Massachusetts.
Kerry's campaign issued a ``summary'' 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 Kerry campaign is often criticized for its stumbles, but in this case, their 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 ``summary,'' she paid income taxes of about $750,000 on an income of $5.1 million.
That works out to less than 15 percent of her income, because over half of her income - $2.8 million - came from tax-exempt interest on government bonds.
In other words, in addition to the $45,000 a week on which she did pay taxes, Mrs. John Kerry [related, bio] last year collected another $56,000 a week upon which she paid zero taxes.
``I think there's a lot of unfairness today in America in the way taxpayers are treated,'' her husband explained on the Fox News Channel last January, without naming names. ``The average worker really ends up with the raw end of the deal as big corporations and powerful people walk off with the money. That has to change.''
Even the pro-Kerry Boston Globe described Teresa's untaxable bond holdings as ``vast,'' but just how 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. Consider her holdings in Scranton Lackawanna Health and Welfare Authority bonds. On the Senate forms, she says the bonds are worth between $100,001 and $250,000, and they throw off income of between $5,001 and $15,000. The bonds pay 5.1 percent interest.
Teresa, a share-the-wealth kind of gal in her public pronouncements, also owns more than a million dollars in bonds issued by the Allegheny County Port Authority. Last year they threw off between $50,001 and $100,000 in tax-free dividends, which Democrats often call ``unearned income.''
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.
Of course there's nothing wrong with owning tax-free bonds. But the fact remains, they are guaranteed by ``revenue streams,'' 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.
You might even argue that tax-exempt bonds are ``reverse Robin Hood, taking from the middle class and giving to the wealthiest Americans.''
John Kerry said that, in January, on National Public Radio. He wasn't referring to his wife's investment strategies, of course.
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 skiing-resort mansions?
``We need to ask the wealthiest people in our country,'' Sen. Kerry said last September, ``to bear some of the burden.''
Somewhere, Leona Helmsley is blushing.
"Only the little people pay taxes" said one of the wealthiest women in America.
As Barbara Bush famously said, I have a word for her and it rhymes with rich.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Pray for W and Our Brave Troops
Some of it is unrealized capital gains (assets went up in value, but she didn't sell them, so no tax is due).The wealthy play by a different set of rules...
So since my Condo has appreciated 300K in 8 years I'm one of those "different set of rules" guys too? I don't think so...
Just because someone owns an asset that increases in value doesn't mean they need to become a class warfare target, even if they are liberal\socialist scum...
Pray for W and Our Brave Troops
"There Is Nothing Wrong With The Way She Invests Her Money,Either Legally Or Morally,..."
Period, end of discussion. If there is nothing wrong with her actions, drop it. Unless you are proposing a different standard for her.
Unless she rents out the manions, cars, clothes, etc. they produce no income.
Lousy investment advice or very good tax advice. No way of knowing without the tax forms.
I didn't bother to go back to the stories, but my recolection is that the $5 million figure described in the "summary" was her adjusted gross, which would be pre-deductions.
But Rush says the rich people are paying most of the taxes!!
"But Rush says the rich people are paying most of the taxes!!"
Look at it this way - the rich and powerful write the tax laws. Who do you think they favor when writing them, themselves or the poor/working class? If you wrote the tax laws - who would you favor - me or you? Face it folks, if you're not wealthy & have power - say hello to the short end of all the sticks.
I agree. If I had the wealth of Teresa, I'd probably invest in a few tax-free bonds myself. Who wants to pay more taxes than are absolutely necessary? (Truth be told, my decidedly middle-class spouse and I have invested in a tax-free bond fund through our stock broker). The point is "what does she do with her money"? If I had her $500-600 million, I'd probably give away at least 99 percent of it immediately, without buying a single Gulfstream or multi-zillion dollar mansion. But that's just me.
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