- WASHINGTON -- The refusal
of Teresa Heinz Kerry, the heiress wife of the presidential contender John
Kerry, to make public her tax returns is causing a quandary for Democratic
campaign managers as they shape her husband's bid to capture the White
House in November.
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- The release of tax records is a virtual rite of passage
for US presidential candidates and their spouses - normally couples file
a joint return which is routinely made public by their campaigns. But Mrs
Kerry, whose inherited fortune through her late husband, the grocery magnate
John Heinz, is worth $500m (£280m) or more, is a special case. The
Kerrys would be far and away the richest first family in modern American
history, owners of five homes (the Bushes, by comparison, are worth some
$20m, while John Kennedy died before he could inherit his father's wealth).
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- The Massachusetts senator has indirectly used his wife's
money for his presidential effort, when he raised a $6.4m mortgage on their
home in Boston last year to keep his campaign afloat. But Mrs Kerry remains
reluctant to go public, even though, sooner or later, she probably has
little choice.
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- In a weekend television interview, she insisted her finances
were meshed with those of her three adult sons by her marriage to Mr Heinz.
"What I have and what I receive is not just mine, it is also my children's,
and I don't have the right to make public what is theirs," she said.
A similar argument was used by Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic vice-presidential
nominee in 1984, who refused to make public the tax returns of her husband,
John Zaccaro, a businessman with allegedly dubious connections. When his
tax files were released, they contained no damaging material, but by then
the controversy had dogged Walter Mondale's campaign for weeks, drowning
out his political message. The last thing the Democrats want is a repeat
in what promises to be a close race this year.
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- In fact, Ms Kerry's returns may reveal few details about
her children's wealth beyond the already known fact that the family has
about 10 trust funds. But they will show that she has a huge annual income
- as much as $30m a year, according to an estimate in the New York Times.
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- It is also possible that, thanks to loopholes and concessions,
she pays relatively little tax. That would be perfectly legal -- but further
ammunition for Republicans as they depict her husband as a moneyed elitist
out of touch with ordinary Americans.
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- Another theory is that Ms Kerry fears publication of
her tax returns would fuel a clamour for further financial data, this time
compromising her children's right to privacy.
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- © 2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=519722
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