Editorial Pages Agree: Time To Release McCain Tax Return

May 19, 2008 -- Editorial pages around the country are weighing on the McCain campaign's hypocrisy on tax returns and transparency. Despite his efforts to craft an image as a champion of transparency in government, Senator McCain refuses to apply those standards of accountability and openness to himself.

John and Cindy McCain: Photo by Steph (CC)

In addition to releasing just two years of his own tax returns--far less than any party nominee since Ronald Reagan in 1980--the McCain campaign is refusing to release Mrs. McCain's tax returns, even if she becomes First Lady.

The following are excerpts of editorials from around the country calling for openness and transparency from the McCain campaign:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Need for Openness Now Even More Urgent. "Cindy McCain, wife of Sen. John McCain, apparently thinks she lives in her own world. But with her husband now the GOP's presumed nominee for the White House, she needs to realize, finally, that she lives in the public world. The world in which public officials open their tax returns for public viewing. Cindy McCain contends that she won't do that, that she and her husband always have filed separate returns and that her money -- a considerable sum -- is her own. Maybe if she could demonstrate that her husband has received no benefit from her family fortune, she would have a case. But she hasn't, and it would be difficult to do so, in any case. Because her husband is a senator, she should have been open all along, but the need for openness is now even more urgent." [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 5/10/08]

The News-Press (FL): Public Has a Right to See Cindy McCain's Financials. "Whether she's filed a joint tax return, a separate tax return, or no tax return for the last 28 years, Cindy McCain lost any claim to privacy when her husband ran for president. Maybe it wouldn't be a big deal if she was a stay-at-home mom with no income to declare. But she's heiress to a $100 million company. The public has a right to see her financials if she wants to move into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." [News-Press, 5/8/08: http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080508/OPINION/80508079/1015/opinion]

Waco Tribune: McCain's wife should reveal her tax reports. "Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has begun to list the ways his presidency would differ from George W. Bush's. One important way McCain could distinguish himself would be to demonstrate his commitment to openness and transparency. Bush has been one of the nation's most secretive presidents. He has steadfastly fought to prevent access to public records involving White House operations and his administration. One way McCain, who has championed open records and transparent government, could distinguish himself would be by making sure his wife releases her tax returns. So far, Cindy McCain has refused… Her company's corporate jet often is used to take Sen. McCain to airports around the country… A lot of information about candidates can be found in tax returns that is not included in campaign finance reports. Without transparency, the public might never know that tax policies supported by an official could directly benefit his or her family. Voters should know about a family's use of tax shelters and its charitable contributions. That information tells a lot about a candidate. The McCains should promote openness in deed as well as word." [Waco Tribune, 5/1708: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2008/05/17/05192008wacedit.html]

Kansas City Star Editor: Cindy McCain Needs to Release Her Tax Returns. "Cindy McCain gets points for quietly doing good charitable work and for being outraged about Myanmar. But she really needs to release her tax returns. The public can't piece together John McCain's financial picture without them. Skeptics will always wonder, with good reason, how the sources of his wife's financial largess affect McCain's public service." [Kansas City Star, 5/9/08: http://voices.kansascity.com/node/1167]

New York Times: "In the Interest of Transparency" Cindy McCain Should Release Tax Returns. "Senator John McCain's wife, Cindy McCain, has decided not to release her tax returns -- not now and not in the future. In the interest of transparency and to support her husband's frequent calls for clean and open government, she should rethink that decision. Since their marriage in 1980, Mrs. McCain, the daughter of a multimillionaire Anheuser-Busch distributor, and her husband have filed separate tax returns. In April, Mr. McCain released his own returns, but just for the last two years -- a paltry nod to openness…Mrs. McCain dug in deeper this month, insisting that she will never make her returns public, even if her husband wins the presidency and she becomes first lady…There is no question that Mr. McCain -- the candidate -- has reaped considerable benefits from his wife's wealth, including discounted use of her company's corporate jet to fly from state to state during this campaign. Voters also deserve to know whether any of Senator McCain's official actions have benefited his wife, family members, or their business associates, as they did in the case of Charles Keating, the Arizona developer and savings and loan operator at the center of the Keating Five scandal two decades ago. A year before Mr. McCain's 1987 meetings with bank regulators on Mr. Keating's behalf, Mrs. McCain and her father invested more than $350,000 in a strip mall developed by Mr. Keating." [New York Times, 5/19/08: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/opinion/19mon4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print]

Washington Post on McCain Tax Disclosure: "IT WON'T DO." "For a candidate who puts a premium on transparency and ethics, John McCain has been slow and grudging in releasing tax information. He did not commit to doing so until after he had secured the nomination, and then he disclosed only two years of taxes, far less than his Democratic rivals. Mr. McCain's wife, the heir to a liquor and beer distributorship, declined to release her returns, citing -- as Ms. Heinz Kerry did -- her children's privacy. Releasing tax information entails intrusion, but, as we wrote four years ago, presidential candidates and their spouses 'relinquish a significant measure of privacy. Meanwhile, tax returns provide information not contained in financial disclosure forms, such as charitable contributions and the use of tax shelters.' For Mrs. McCain to say, as she did on NBC's "Today" show this week, that she would never release her tax returns, not even if she were to become first lady, is unacceptable. 'This is a privacy issue,' she said. 'My husband is the candidate.'" [Editorial, Washington Post, 5/14/08: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/13/AR2008051302733.html]

Washington Times Editorial: Blasts "Cindy McCain's 'privacy' charade." "Cindy McCain refuses to release her tax returns. This is not just a questionable political decision that threatens to haunt her husband's campaign for the next six months. It is also the wrong decision. Mrs. McCain needs to change her mind and release the returns as quickly as possible. How Republican John McCain, the presumptive presidential nominee who rightly fancies himself the king of transparency on Capitol Hill, and his campaign strategists can permit this open sore to fester is unimaginable. As the chairman of the Anheuser-Busch distributorship Hensley & Co., which her father founded, Mrs. McCain is an heiress whose income and assets will directly benefit from the tax policies espoused by her husband. Mr. McCain would also benefit. Taxpayers and voters are entitled to know how much these benefits will be." [Editorial, Washington Times, 5/14/08: http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080514/EDITORIAL/702074707/1013]

New York Observer Column: Show Us Your 1040, Mrs. McCain! "Now comes Mrs. McCain, whose case suspiciously resembles that of Mrs. Kerry. Although she and her straight-talking husband keep their finances separate for tax purposes, her company plane has been flying him and his entourage of lobbyists around the country at bargain rates, a particular boon during the many months when his campaign was out of cash. As for conflicts of interest, the patina of reform has long rubbed off of Senator McCain, whose penchant for using his office to assist donors with federal land swaps and other sweetheart deals should surprise no one paying close attention to his career." [New York Observer, 5/13/08: http://www.observer.com/2008/show-us-your-1040-mrs-mccain]

Source: DNC

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