Ted Kennedy on Taxes

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Follow the math:

Nominal income on $300 million would be around $10 million a year. The normal income taxes that would be paid on that income level would be close to $4 million. And they paid $135,000? That’s just a shade over 1% as a tax rate based on the presumed income of $10 million.

So the Kennedy’s tax rate is 1%, while the people that work for their money pay close to 40%.

Redefine 'Fair Share.'
Virtue: It is virtuous and noble to advocate loudly and publicly for tax hikes while quietly minimizing your own tax burden as much as possible, in ways that the poor and middle classes you claim to want to 'help' cannot.

Selfish Fat Cat: Obviously, it is greedy and selfish to advocate for tax cuts.

A couple years ago scholar Paul Kengor wrote a book about Reagan and the Cold War, and Kengor revealed the discovery of:

a KGB letter written at the height of the Cold War that shows that Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) offered to assist Soviet leaders in formulating a public relations strategy to counter President Reagan's foreign policy and to complicate his re-election efforts.

The letter, dated May 14, 1983, was sent from the head of the KGB to Yuri Andropov, who was then General Secretary of the Soviet Union's Communist Party.

In his letter, KGB head Viktor Chebrikov offered Andropov his interpretation of Kennedy's offer. Former U.S. Sen. John Tunney (D-Calif.) had traveled to Moscow on behalf of Kennedy to seek out a partnership with Andropov and other Soviet officials, Kengor claims in his book.

At one point after President Reagan left office, Tunney acknowledged that he had played the role of intermediary, not only for Kennedy but for other U.S. senators, Kengor said. Moreover, Tunney told the London Times that he had made 15 separate trips to Moscow.

Kennedy had proposed that Republican Mark Hatfield accompany him.

Kennedy has endorsed Obama, who, out of touch as always, notes that he likes Kennedy. The two of them can probably swap tax evasion strategies and arugula recipes.
Incidentally, Kennedy and McCain share the honor of being in the top 15 richest Senators (McCain is 7th, Kennedy 8th, Clinton 14th).