Financial Records released by Sarah Palin indicate that she and her family live a life of financial security and relative opulence when compared to the income of most average Hockey Moms.
Recent tax records and financial disclosures reveal that Sarah and Todd Palin have $2.1 million in the bank, and regularly make a six figure combined income that they pay taxes on. Part of the Palin household income comes from Todd’s work as an “oilman” illustrating the ties between Palin and the oil industry, once and for all.
Palin also received $16,951 in tax free state payments for meal and incidental expenses which she says she is entitled to when staying at her home in Wasilla instead of at the governor's mansion in Juneau. One Washington tax attorney who supports Obama disputes Palin’s statements that she is entitled to the tax free money.” She’s using her state office as a means to generate a favorable tax status for herself," he said. "You and I couldn't do that."
ABC News reports that there appears to be an $88,544 discrepancy between the amount Palin reported to the IRS and the amount she report on campaign finance papers. The McCain campaign says the disputed amount represents the salary Palin earned in 2008, during a period not covered by 2006 and 2007 tax returns, but there is currently no way to confirm that information.
While the Palin income is by no means fortune 500 material, it does seem to counter her folksy “I’m just a country girl” persona. On the national campaign trail, Sarah Palin loves to present herself as small town home spun woman, and someone who knows what it is like to pinch pennies and raise a family on a budget. In reality this persona is another McCain campaign illusion meant to distract us from the truth.
The truth is that when Sarah Palin starts spouting off about the nation’s “elites” she forgets to mention that she and her husband Todd belong to that exclusive club reserved for folks with millions of dollars in the bank. That a portion of their income comes from the oil industry suggests she has more in common with T Boone Pickens that the average American mother. This illusion is similar to John McCain presenting himself as a man of the people when few of us people actually own nine houses.
And even though a million dollars isn’t what it used to be, modest wealth is far different than the abject poverty many women raising children in this country face every day.
The next time Sarah Palin reaches out to the average women of America, struggling to eke out a financial living in a world where they get paid less than their male co-workers, where gas prices are rising, jobs are disappearing, and food prices are escalating, it would be wise to remember the Alaskan politician is by no means one of our number.
Sources: Washington Post, Palin Reports Six-Figure Income in '06 and '07, Dan Morgan, Oct. 3, 2008.Market Watch, Will Palin's folksy persona keep working for her?, Russ Britt, Oct. 3, 2008. ABC News, Palin's Taxes, October 03, 2008. The Center for Public Integrity, The Buying of Sarah Palin, Sarah Laskow, August 29, 2008. Alaska Public Offices Commission, 2008 Financial Disclosure Statement 2008, Sarah Palin.
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Joan Walsh
Kerry Lauerman
suede
Joe Blow
seachell2
Salon.com
Comments
"The Palins' total income last year was split almost evenly between Sarah Palin's white-collar job and her husband's blue-collar work. Sarah Palin's salary as governor was $125,000; Todd Palin took in $46,790 as a part-time oil production operator for BP Alaska in Prudhoe Bay, plus $46,265 in commercial fishing income and $10,500 in Iron Dog snowmachine race winnings. These figures do not include nearly $17,000 in per diem payments Palin received for 312 nights spent in her own home since she was elected governor; she also has received $43,490 to cover travel costs for her husband and children.
In addition, each member of the Palin family received $1,654 in state oil royalties paid to all Alaskans. The Palins' assets seem enviable: a half-million-dollar home on a lake with a float-plane at the dock, two vacation retreats, commercial-fishing rights worth an estimated $50,000 or more and an income last year of at least $230,000. That compares to a median income of $64,333 for Alaskans and $50,740 for Americans in 2007, according to the Census Bureau."
NOW HERE IS SOME FINE PRINT TO KEEP IN MIND:
"But in Alaska, scarce roads make private planes commonplace, it's typical to spend a month or two fishing commercially, and wilderness acreage is so plentiful the state has sold loads' worth stake-your-claim style. So, it's often the finer points that matter: How old is the airplane? Where exactly is the fishing spot? Is the house on a paved road?Land itself doesn't necessarily translate to wealth, said Tom Hawkins of Anchorage, who paid about $2,000 for a five-acre parcel miles from the nearest road, best reached by snow machine."
I like to give each politician the benefit of the doubt.
I do not dispute that she and her husband have worked hard and have not had a financially, worry-free, trust-fund existence. My father was a commercial fisherman, so I know the experience of swinging between years of plenty and years of struggle.
What disturbs me about her is her trying so hard to portray the "just like you" hockey/soccer mom, rather than acknowledge that there are families with real issues, addressing what those issues are rather than just giving lip service to them, and providing real solutions for them instead of slogans.
So in their warped twisted minds, she is still good ole home town huhyuck yuck doggonnit.
Considering that she is, fair and square, a state governor, they are as close as you are gonna get to living week to week on direct personal income from employment. Do you think you can find a congressman, senator, or governor anywhere in the US closer to this than they are. I think you'll struggle.
I can't stand her but I feel this line of attack is very weak.