Business First:
Gov. Ted Strickland on Wednesday released to the public income tax returns for the past four years, calling on Republican gubernatorial challenger John Kasich to follow suit.
Strickland’s 2009 return shows the governor recorded $166,321 in total income, with his $139,353-a-year job as governor his primary source of income. Strickland paid out $21,571 in federal taxes and made $30,749 in charitable contributions. The governor, who files jointly with his wife, Frances, also offered up returns from 2006 to 2008, making public a full decade of tax data when including a similar round of disclosures in his first gubernatorial run....
Wow! Gov. Strickland has released ten years of his returns.
....Of his more than $1 million income in 2008, Kasich earned $587,175 from Lehman. That included a $182,692 salary and $432,000 in bonuses earned in 2007 but paid early the next year....
I am a little suspicious as to why Kasich hasn't released more information. Even though Gov. Strickland has called upon Republican John Kasich, his opponent, to do the same, Kasich has refused. I heard that Kasich only allowed the press to look at his one income tax return for a short time, and they could not record any information. Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.
You have to wonder why Kasich won't release his previous tax returns. Is he afraid people will see what he was paid as a managing director at the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers? According to SalaryList, managing directors were paid a salary of $200,000 to $240,000/year.
The Timesonline noted the following on December 14, 2006:
Lehman Brothers said it would pay its average member of staff $335,441 (£170,933) this year as it reported a record fourth-quarter profit of $1.0 billion, capping its most profitable year ever.
The US investment bank is paying its 25,936 staff a total of $8.7 billion in salary, bonuses and other benefits for 2006 on the back of a 23 per cent rise in net income to a record $4.0 billion....
We can speculate that with his Lehman Brothers salary, bonus, and lucrative speaking engagements, Kasich was pulling in huge money. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We're just wondering what is Kasich hiding?