McCain releases tax returns

Senator John McCain's income jumped by nearly $50,000 from 2006 to 2007 because of higher book royalties, according to federal tax returns he released today.

In 2006, the presumptive Republican nominee reported earning $358,414, including his Senate salary, book royalties, Navy pension, and Social Security (he is 71). He reported $405,409 in income in 2007. Over those two years, he paid about $157,000 in federal taxes and gave about $170,000 to charity.

McCain had been under pressure to release his returns after both his Democratic rivals, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, did so in recent weeks. He did not, however, disclose most tax information involving his wife Cindy, an heiress to a beer distributorship in Arizona worth an estimated $100 million. The couple signed a prenuptial agreement that keeps most of the assets in Cindy McCain's name.

"Senator and Mrs. McCain have kept their personal finances separate throughout their 27-year marriage," the McCain campaign said in a statement accompanying the tax returns. "Accordingly, they have for many years filed separate tax returns. However, their home state of Arizona is a community property jurisdiction. In community property states, individuals maintain a separation of all property brought to the marriage, or inherited during it, but share financial responsibility for other assets acquired through the efforts of each spouse during the marriage. This means that their tax returns report one half of each of their community property income and expenses (such as income each of them earn as salaries, Senator McCain's book royalties, and expenses attributable to both of them such as charitable contributions from community assets)."

UPDATE: Democrats hit McCain for not releasing more information about his wife's income, noting that Republicans had called on Senator John F. Kerry to disclose more about the finances of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.

"John McCain's lack of transparency is troubling and raises questions about what he's hiding," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement. "John McCain continues a troubling pattern of thinking the rules don't apply to him. McCain should hold himself to the same standard set by past presidential candidates, both Republican and Democrat, and the example already set by both Democratic candidates."