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http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_taxes_hillary/2008/03/25/83043.html
Obama Releases Tax Returns, Says Clinton Should
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama released seven years of tax returns on
Tuesday, cranking up the pressure on presidential rival Hillary Clinton to
make public her recent filings and renewing a battle between the two camps
over transparency.
Obama's tax returns from 2000 to 2006 were posted on his Web site as his
campaign pushed to portray Clinton, the New York senator and former first
lady, as secretive and unwilling to be open with voters.
Obama, an Illinois senator, has repeatedly asked Clinton to release tax
returns for the years since she and her husband, former President Bill
Clinton, left the White House in 2001.
"Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine. We believe the Clinton
campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard
now," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
Clinton, in Pennsylvania campaigning for the state's primary on April 22,
told reporters she hoped her returns would be released within the next week.
But she and campaign aides pressed Obama to release records from his days in
the Illinois legislature and his earlier tax returns.
"I am pleased that Senator Obama has released his tax returns. I think
that's a good first step," Clinton said in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. "Now he
should release his records from being in the state Senate and any other
information that the public and the press need to know."
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said she already had released more than 20
years of tax returns and hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from
the White House.
Obama and Clinton are in a hard-fought battle for the Democratic
presidential nomination and the right to face Republican John McCain in
November's election.
Presidential candidates often release their tax returns, although they are
not required to do so, but Clinton's failure to release her returns since
2001 had become a target of increased criticism from Obama's camp.
As senators, Obama and Clinton are both required only to file disclosure
statements that give a wide range of income and provide few details on
finances and holdings.
The newly released tax returns show Obama's income with wife Michelle jumped
in 2005 with the re-release of his first book "Dreams from My Father," which
brought him $1.2 million, and in 2006 when his second book "The Audacity of
Hope" earned more than $500,000.
Their income rose dramatically with the book sales. From 2000 to 2004 their
income ranged from just more than $207,000 to more than $275,000. In 2005
their joint income was more than $1.6 million and in 2006 it was nearly $1
million.
Obama's campaign said Clinton's tax records were important because of
questions about her $5 million loan in January to her campaign and about
Bill Clinton's income from an investment company -- headed by donor Ron
Burkle -- that invests in tax shelters.
"Senator Clinton can't claim to be vetted until she allows the public the
opportunity to see her finances -- particularly with respect to any
investment in tax shelters," Gibbs said in a statement.
Obama Releases Tax Returns, Says Clinton Should
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Democrat Barack Obama released seven years of tax returns on
Tuesday, cranking up the pressure on presidential rival Hillary Clinton to
make public her recent filings and renewing a battle between the two camps
over transparency.
Obama's tax returns from 2000 to 2006 were posted on his Web site as his
campaign pushed to portray Clinton, the New York senator and former first
lady, as secretive and unwilling to be open with voters.
Obama, an Illinois senator, has repeatedly asked Clinton to release tax
returns for the years since she and her husband, former President Bill
Clinton, left the White House in 2001.
"Releasing tax returns is a matter of routine. We believe the Clinton
campaign should meet that routine standard and meet that routine standard
now," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.
Clinton, in Pennsylvania campaigning for the state's primary on April 22,
told reporters she hoped her returns would be released within the next week.
But she and campaign aides pressed Obama to release records from his days in
the Illinois legislature and his earlier tax returns.
"I am pleased that Senator Obama has released his tax returns. I think
that's a good first step," Clinton said in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. "Now he
should release his records from being in the state Senate and any other
information that the public and the press need to know."
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said she already had released more than 20
years of tax returns and hundreds of thousands of pages of documents from
the White House.
Obama and Clinton are in a hard-fought battle for the Democratic
presidential nomination and the right to face Republican John McCain in
November's election.
Presidential candidates often release their tax returns, although they are
not required to do so, but Clinton's failure to release her returns since
2001 had become a target of increased criticism from Obama's camp.
As senators, Obama and Clinton are both required only to file disclosure
statements that give a wide range of income and provide few details on
finances and holdings.
The newly released tax returns show Obama's income with wife Michelle jumped
in 2005 with the re-release of his first book "Dreams from My Father," which
brought him $1.2 million, and in 2006 when his second book "The Audacity of
Hope" earned more than $500,000.
Their income rose dramatically with the book sales. From 2000 to 2004 their
income ranged from just more than $207,000 to more than $275,000. In 2005
their joint income was more than $1.6 million and in 2006 it was nearly $1
million.
Obama's campaign said Clinton's tax records were important because of
questions about her $5 million loan in January to her campaign and about
Bill Clinton's income from an investment company -- headed by donor Ron
Burkle -- that invests in tax shelters.
"Senator Clinton can't claim to be vetted until she allows the public the
opportunity to see her finances -- particularly with respect to any
investment in tax shelters," Gibbs said in a statement.
