When McCain releases his financial records, it will be for his OWN income...

[jmowreader]

and not his FAMILY income. Same with Governor Palin--her income, not her family's.

I note that Senator Biden released his family's financials recently, and they contain the monies his wife earns teaching English at a community college. Which is all well and good, and how it should be. I'm confident that when Senator Obama releases his records, his wife's income will be included as well.

But when the GOP ticket releases? There's no damn way they'd release spousal income--Todd Palin pulls down six figures working a North Slope oil rig, and Cindy McCain makes huge money running a beer company. The electorate would shit if they saw what those two made.

[Retrograde]

1. isn't Arizona a community property state?

California is, and as far as the IRS is concerned my income is (my income + Mr. Retrograde's)/2. Now there are nuances such as pre-nuptial agreements that may affect this, and I'm not a tax or estate lawyer, but as I understand it Cindy's income is just as much John's as it is hers.

[jmowreader]

2. It IS, but that's not germane here

My bet is they file Married Filing Separately just for this eventuality--so that if he's asked to display his income statements for one and all to see, Cindy's rather outsized income won't show up on them.

[Retrograde]

3. um. that's not what the IRS told me

the one time we filed Married Filing Separately: they said we had to average our incomes (and that was the year we had a large discrepancy). Our separate W2s reflected our own incomes, but that's not how we were taxed.

Anyway, a pre-nup may change things, but I don't know for sure. I'm just as ready to believe he's deliberately not mentioning Cindy's money, and since income tax returns are confidential, her money's not visible to the rest of the country.

[MiniMe]

4. That is what Kerry did too. I don't see this as an issue.

[dysfunctional press]

5. didn't kerry do the same thing? theresa HEINZ is the one with the money.

nt

[dysfunctional press]

6. oops

.