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Logical

(22,457 posts)
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 05:38 PM Jun 2014

From MSNBC - "Hillary Clinton stumbles on money questions"

Hillary Clinton has a money problem.

Twice in the last month, the former secretary of state has been tripped up by questions related to her personal wealth, which is estimated to be as high as tens of millions of dollars.

In an interview with The Guardian published Saturday, Clinton responded to a question about whether her impressive net worth would undermine her ability to critique income inequality.

“They don’t see me as part of the problem,” Clinton reportedly responded, “because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off, not to name names; and we’ve done it through dint of hard work.”

Clinton appeared to be alluding to millionaires like Mitt Romney whose wealth comes primarily from investment income that is taxed at lower rates than the speaking fees and book sales that have buoyed her and her husband over the years. But Clinton may want to hold off before suggesting her taxes are so ordinary: A report in Bloomberg this month detailed how she and and her husband employ techniques commonly used by ultra-wealthy families to reduce estate tax bills for their heirs. The apparent contrast between the Clintons and the “truly well off” seems pretty minor as well for a couple firmly in the 1%.

Earlier this month, Clinton said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House and explained they “struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education.”

more at:

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/hillary-clinton-stumbles-money-questions



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JI7

(89,182 posts)
3. i don't think she stumbled, what she said is mostly true
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 05:55 PM
Jun 2014

for other examples we can use the Kennedys, Elizabeth Warren who are also very wealthy but most people who have a problem with the system don't think it's because of them.

she wasn't complaining or trying to say she is just like those who are struggling.

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
4. It is smart to do estate planning, it should be done by people of small estates also.
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 05:58 PM
Jun 2014

I have had estate plans in place for years though I surely do not have a large estate. Bill's health looks good now but he has had some problems and we do not know what tomorrow brings. I feel sure Elizabeth Warren and her husband has an estate plan for their millions also and especially since she is am economics professor at one time. Why is some many here so downhearted about Hillary and Elizabeth having a sizeable estate? Bill, Hillary and Elizabeth has earned their estate along with Elizabeth's husband. They worked hard to get their degrees. It would seem as an incentive to others to work hard to get up in this world.

PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)
6. Just because you say you support a certain tax doesn't mean you can't do what ever you can
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 06:02 PM
Jun 2014

(legally) to avoid paying it yourself, right?...

Thinkingabout

(30,058 posts)
7. Need to become familiar with estate planning, I will not be paying my estate taxes, my heirs will.
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 06:09 PM
Jun 2014

Do you take a deduction for yourself every year or just say that's ok, I'll Just pay without the deduction?

merrily

(45,251 posts)
8. because "we" pay income tax. If she considers Bill part of her economic unit--which, of course,
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 06:09 PM
Jun 2014

he is, when it comes to the kind of lifestyle they can share and afford to their mutual descendants--then the figure is closer to $100 million than to ten million. Besides, exactly how many millions does it take before one is considered "well off?"

Besides, since when is whether you pay income tax an indicium of how wealthy you are, or whether you are part of the income inequality "problem?" Romney paid income taxes. Not a penny more than he owed, he said proudly, but he claimed to pay everything that was due under US law. Is Hillary claiming she pays more in income taxes than the law requires her to pay? If not, how is her "well offness" different from Romney's? Or Buffet's? He pays taxes on his ordinary income, too--though less (proportionately?), he tells us, than his secretary pays.

She is not making sense, I suspect largely because she keeps trying to avoid admitting and dealing with the obvious truth.

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