In a stunning move, the Clintons have released the first page of their 2006 tax returns (digg link).
OK, but more seriously, consider that the Clinton campaign made releasing tax returns a central attack on Rick Lazio (extended quote after the jump), yet they refuse to release their own in this campaign.
This diary serves as a collection point where we can reconstruct the entire contents of their tax returns. Included are wages (senate income), consulting (speaking fees), books, capital gains, and pension (Bill Clinton's presidential pension). It's incomplete as of now, but I think that we need to put heavy emphasis on this issue this week, and the first step is putting together a plausible list of what we expect to find. That's what this diary is about, and I need your help.
Finally, we must consider income not seen on tax returns, such as donations to the Clinton presidential library.
This isn't new to the Clintons - they went to great lengths to pressure Rick Lazio to release his tax returns:
Representative Rick A. Lazio has attracted an unbidden guest at some of his campaign events this week: a Democratic lackey in an impressively garish Uncle Sam costume who taunts Mr. Lazio over his failure to release copies of his income tax returns.
Call it sophomoric or tacky (Lazio partisans call it much worse). Still, the jeers have helped draw attention to a question that has hung over Mr. Lazio: Why has he not yet disclosed his tax returns, particularly given the long history of politicians in New York stumbling over this issue?
Almost since the day Mr. Lazio entered the Senate race in May, the Lazio campaign has pledged to make the information public. And with each passing week, his assistants say they need more time, explaining that they want to ensure that the returns are thoroughly researched so that when they are released, the campaign will not be blind-sided by anything in them. By the end of summer, the assistants promise. By Labor Day? The autumnal equinox on Sept. 22? They won't say.
The Democrats have been sowing conspiracy theories of the what-is-Lazio-hiding variety, not to mention dispatching Uncle Sam to keep the issue in reporters' faces. On Wednesday, Howard Wolfson, the chief spokesman for Mr. Lazio's opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, even showed up at a Lazio event in Harlem to fan the flames.
I've done my best to find their various sources of income, but I hope everyone here can help me fill in the gaps - the "unknown" entries listed here. If the Clintons won't release their taxes, we should dig and infer as much as we can on our own, and ultimately put pressure on them to do so. Several of the numbers below come from a Money magazine look into the personal fortunes of presidential candidates.
1. Wages (senate income, etc.): $165,200 / year
A. Hillary Clinton's senate wages: $165,200 / year.
2. Consulting (consulting, speaking fees, etc.): unknown
A. Bill Clinton's speaking fees: at least $41 million.
B. Bill Clinton's consulting fees (Vinod Gupta, InfoUSA): unknown.
C. Bill Clinton's consulting fees (Ron Burkle, The Yucaipa Companies): unknown.
D. Bill Clinton's consulting fees (Frank Giustra, unknown Uranium mining company): unknown.
3. Book fees: at least $27 million
A. Advance for Bill Clinton's book My Life: $12 million.
B. Advance for Hillary Clinton's book Living History: $8 million.
C. Advance for Bill Clinton's book Giving: unknown.
C. Royalties for My Life: unknown.
D. Royalties for Living History: at least $7 million.
E. Royalties for Giving: unknown.
3. Capital gains (stocks, dividends, etc.): unknown
A. unknown
4. Pension (Bill Clinton's presidential pension): $201,000/year
The former president receives many benefits:
The retirement benefits received by former Presidents include a pension, Secret Service protection, and reimbursements for staff, travel, mail, and office expenses. The Presidential pension is not a fixed amount, rather it matches the current salary of Cabinet members - $166,700/year as of January, 2002 (but see "Salary Info" section above for advice on how to track increases in this figure.)
($166,700 is an old figure.)
5. Clinton presidential library donations: unknown
We know that Bill Clinton picked up as much as $131.3 million by helping out in a shady Uranium deal with Kazakhstan. We know of many other donors over time, but little is known about how much they've given.
Here's an old list of donors:
TRUSTEE LEVEL (INDIVIDUALS)
Sheik Abdullah S. Abdullah
Ewa & Daniel Abraham
Nasser Al-Rashid
Abdullah Al Dabbagh
Jay Alix
Malini Alles
Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley and Smith Bagley
Stephen Bing
Richard Blum
Jeff Cooper
Dr. Issam Fares
James Ferraro
Wallace & Jama Fowler Foundation
Vin Gupta
Patricia Hotung
Walid Juffali
Robert L. Johnson
Michael Lee Chin
Howard & Michele Kessler
Peter Lewis
Joe Morita
Viktor & Olena Pinchuk
Michael Rienzi
Bill Rollnick & Nancy Ellison
Dr. Cheryl and Haim Saban
Donald L. Saunders
Walter Shorenstein
Bren & Melvin Simon
Arnold Simon Family Foundation
Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw
Joseph Stroud
Martin Varsavsky
Ted & Joan Waitt
Mark Walsh
Alice Walton
Gary and Karen Winnick
TRUSTEE LEVEL (ORGANIZATIONS)
ALLTEL
Alphawood Foundation
Annenberg Foundation
Avalon Capital Group
Dubai Foundation
Embassy of the State of Qatar
Entergy Corporation
Government of Brunei
Magna International Inc.
Satoshi Iue (Chmn. Sanyo Electric)
Soros Foundation
State of Kuwait
Taiwan Economic & Cultural Office
Anheuser-Busch Foundation
David Geffen Foundation
Eli & Edythe Broad Foundation
Roy & Christine Sturgis Foundation
Royal Saudi Family
Wal-Mart/Sam's Club Foundation
Walton Family Foundation
Wasserman Foundation
PHILANTHROPIST LEVEL
Victor Dahdaleh
JB Fuqua
Carlos Bremer Gutierre
Gilbert & Rose Mary Chagoury
Dorothy & Lewis Cullman
Myra & Brian Greenspun
Elaine & Gerald Schuster
C. S. Westbrook & Hugh Westbrook
Sydney & Stanley Shuman
Carlos Slim
Katsuhiko Yoshida
Ruettgers Family Foundation
Global Artists
NY HHS Union, Local 1199
Bank of America
Sainsbury Family Charitable Trust