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SOURCE: The Boston Herald
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 026
LENGTH: 633 words
HEADLINE: Liveshot's golden tax rule: Raise unto others, but not me
BYLINE: By Howie Carr
DATELINE: February 28, 2004
BODY:
John Kerry has a two-part plan for the income tax: Part one: He wants to raise yours. Part two: He doesn't want to raise his own. Liveshot wouldn't put it that way, of course, but actions speak louder than words. And when John Kerry had a chance last year to voluntarily pay an extra $ 687 in Massachusetts state income taxes, he went AWOL. When he had an opportunity to pony up an extra $ 687, Kerry did not say, "Bring it on!" He said, "See ya later." As you may know, here in Massachusetts we have a provision on our state income-tax form that allows all concerned citizens to pay their taxes at a higher rate than is required by law.
It's something you can volunteer to do . . . for the children. For the victims of the Reagan-Bush recession blah-blah-blah. It's a choice each state taxpayer must make on Line 22 - whether to pay at the 5.35 percent rate, set by 2 million mean-spirited voters at the ballot box in 1998, or at the old Dukakis-era 5.85 percent rate.
Think of the higher rate as an investment in the future, as the teachers' unions like to say. It's no secret that Gigolo John lives off the inheritance of his gold-digging second wife, who controls $ 650 million from the trust fund set up by her first husband's grandfather. But the senator also has a job of sorts - last year he reported $ 137,480 in total taxable income for 2002, which means that paying at the higher rate imposed by Gov. Dukakis, whom he served under, would have cost him an additional $ 687.
A mere $ 687, for the most vulnerable members of our society. To pay for the sex-change operations our convicts want, and need. To assure that Billy Bulger will receive his next monthly pension check of $ 12,143. To pay for Fat Matt Amorello's $ 17 video rentals at Chicago hotels.
But when it came Sen. Kerry's turn to buy a round, he was as invisible as Dick Cheney at a pre-induction physical. A call was placed to the high-flying Kerry campaign. Michael Meehan returned it, telling me that indeed the senator did pay at the 5.35 percent rate. He appeared unfamiliar with the 5.85 percent option available on Line 22.
"You're kidding," he said. "People can choose to pay higher taxes? How many people pay at the higher rate?" Well, as of Tuesday, the Department of Revenue had processed 782,201 returns for 2003. Mr. Meehan, would you care to guess how many big-hearted liberals there are in Massachusetts? "Five?"
No, actually, the number is 248, and they've contributed an extra $ 22,434, which means the average person willing to pay more than his "fair share" makes less than 20 grand a year. Meehan faxed me Liveshot's 2002 returns, along with a cover sheet that said, "Something JK agrees w-99.9% of all of his fellow Mass. taxpayers!" Which is true. Last year, of 3,264,334 tax filers, 1,929 paid the extra money, which actually works out to about one-15th of 1 percent.
Still, Kerry basically argues that no one can criticize him on defense unless they were in Vietnam. Shouldn't the same standard apply to taxes? If you're not willing to pay more, how can you ask anyone else? Oh sure, Kerry says he wants to keep the Bush tax cuts for people making less than $ 200,000, but how believable is that? He voted against the tax cuts when they were proposed.
Democrats despise tax cuts - consider Bill Clinton's "middle-class tax cut" of 1992. Never happened, did it? Bottom line, John Kerry wants to tax you back to the Stone Age. As for himself, sorry folks, but he gave at the office.
Howie Carr's radio show can be heard every weekday afternoon on WRKO-AM 680, WHYN-AM 560, WGAN-AM 560, WEIM-AM 1280, and WXTK 95.1 FM.
Caption: NO THANKS: Sen. John F. Kerry declined an opportunity to pay extra income taxes to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts amounting to under $ 700. |
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