[jyl]

Okay, since everyone has their shorts in a twist about this (and since I am sitting in an airport, time on my hands) I did some looking.

For 2003, John Kerry had $395,000 in taxable income. His income includes $96,000 from a book and $175,000 in capital gains; I assume the rest is his Senate salary which is around $140,000, I think. He donated $44K to charity. He paid a 24% effective tax rate. I'm no tax accountant, but considering that his capital gains could have received a 15% rate, and the charitable donation, 24% doesn't sound strange.

For 2003, Teresa Kerry had over $5 million in taxable income and an appx 12% effective tax rate. I would think most or all of her income comes from investments, either dividends or capital gains. Since dividends and long-term capital gains are taxed at a low rate, a low effective tax rate wouldn't be surprising.

No question, Mrs. Kerry is wealthy. But, frankly, a lot of politicians are wealthy. In 1997 George Bush reported income of $18 million. I don't even want to know the Governor of California's income . . .

Again, investment income gets taxed at a much more favorable rate than wage income. That's one way the wealthy . . . stay wealthy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'd like to be there too.