Lazio Releases Tax Returns

N E W  Y O R K, Aug. 28, 2000 -- After months of questions from reporters and weeks of harassment from Democrats, Rep. Rick Lazio released his tax returns to public Thursday.

Shortly after he entered the race against first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for New York’s soon-to-be-open seat in the U.S. Senate, Lazio promised to release the returns by the end of August. Yet, his campaign took more than two months to compile all of his federal and state returns from 1990 to date.

Richard Zimmerman, a partner with the accounting firm of Cornick, Garber and Sandler in New York, reviewed the returns for ABCNEWS and found very little information in the documents that raised any questions.

“This exercise is wholly unremarkable,” said Zimmerman. “These are not the Corleone family tax returns.”

Stunt Man

The New York Democratic Party has been demonstrating against Lazio all month, sending a man dressed up like Uncle Sam — “Tax Man” — who has been shouting at the congressman, “We want your taxes!”

The Lazio campaign refused to change its timetable for releasing the tax returns, even as “Tax Man” helped earn the Republican candidate some negative media coverage.

Much of the material contained in the returns, filed jointly by Lazio and his wife Patricia, had already been made public in Lazio’s congressional financial disclosure forms. But the returns provide a more detailed glimpse of the congressman’s finances.

The bulk of his family income stems from his salary in the House of Representatives, but the family has generated other revenue sources — a rental property on Fire Island in New York and returns on commodities investments. While Lazio has made a number of very successful stock trades, his overall returns are quite modest, averaging a little more than $3,200 per year since 1990.

Lazio’s biggest gains — more than $13,000 — came from options he traded in Quick and Reilly, the investment group. The Securities and Exchange Commission scrutinized those profits after the media and Congressman Lazio’s opponents raised questions in June. Last week, the SEC concluded its investigation, having found nothing improper.

The congressman’s biggest loss in the past few years — $5,696 — came from his dealings with an oil company that has made headlines in recent weeks. Lazio lost the money in 1998 selling 400 shares of Halliburton, the company headed until recently by Dick Cheney, George W. Bush’s running mate.

According to the returns, Lazio and his wife have donated an average of $1,861 per year to charity.