美媒報道:無人知曉希拉里究竟多有錢

Ever since Hillary Clinton drew attention to her finances by claiming her family was "dead broke" when they left the White House, speculation has focused on a seemingly simple question: Exactly how rich are the Clintons?
The answer, at least for the time being, is that there's no way for the public to know.
The couple's wealth since Bill Clinton's presidency ended in early 2001 has been generated largely from paid speeches, lucrative book deals and successful investments.
Some of that wealth has been detailed over the years in the financial disclosure forms Hillary Clinton was required to file as a senator and as secretary of state, as well as in tax returns she released as part of her 2008 presidential run. These forms record income from both Clintons jointly.
But loose federal disclosure rules, requiring that officials report the value of their holdings using only wide ranges, leave much room for interpretation. And while Hillary Clinton's past tax returns offer more data points than exist for most other potential presidential candidates, the information is incomplete - and out of date.
In 2010, then-Secretary Clinton's financial disclosures revealed a net worth totaling between roughly $10 and $50 million. In 2012, the last year for which she disclosed finances, Clinton's net worth was estimated to be between $5 million and $25 million.
Clinton deflected a question about her net worth during an interview with Fusion's Jorge Ramos that aired Tuesday night. Asked if she knew the figure, Clinton replied, "Within a range, yeah. I mean, we have two very nice houses, which we're very proud of and not selling anytime soon." When Ramos asked if it was millions, she said, "Yes indeed."
Lawyers and government ethics officials say federal personal financial disclosure rules are vague for a reason. The rules are designed to prevent conflicts of interest between those in office and their investments, not to provide values for specific holdings.
Also unclear is how the Clintons' income factored into their reported net worth. The tax returns Hillary Clinton released during her 2008 campaign show that the Clintons made $87.3 million in joint adjusted gross income between 2001 and 2006. Full tax returns for years beyond 2006 have not been made public, but a recent Washington Post report on Bill Clinton's paid speeches shows $49.2 million in further earnings from appearances alone between 2007 and 2012. Adding those figures together shows that the Clintons' confirmed income between 2001 and 2012 was at least $136.5 million.
The result is that Americans knew relatively little about Clinton's total wealth while in office - and probably know even less now, as there are no publicly available documents showing income or net worth for the period since she left the State Department.
The lack of specific information has led to uncertainty among Clinton's rivals and backers, all of whom would like to know to what degree her personal wealth might play a role in an election in which populism and income inequality seem likely to be factors. After all, Democrats were successful in using Mitt Romney's riches against him in 2012. Romney's net worth was reported to be about $250 million.

《華盛頓郵報》7月30日報道，此前，希拉里曾稱離開白宮時一度“瀕臨破產”，引起一片譁然。2001年年初，比爾·克林頓卸任、搬離白宮，夫妻兩人開始一邊投資一邊演講、出書，四處吸金，賺得盆滿鉢滿。此番哭窮反引發質疑：希拉里究竟有多富？
克林頓一家家底到底有多厚？誰都不知道，至少現在看來是這樣。
依照美國《政府官員行爲道德法》規定，總統、副總統、國會議員、聯邦法官以及行政、立法和司法三大機構的工作人員，必須在任職前報告自己的財產狀況，上任後還須按月申報。

同時，財產申報不只限於申報者本人，還必須包括其配偶或受撫養的子女的有關情況。除在國家安全部門工作或其他不宜暴露身份的官員外，各受理申報的機關均須將財產申報資料公開，供大衆查閱複印，以便接受社會監督。
2008年參與競選時，希拉里按照規定公開了報稅單，任參議員和國務卿期間，也公佈了部分資產明細。相比大選時的競爭者，希拉里報稅單上的數據點較多，但信息並不完整且已十分陳舊。此外，美國的財產申報制度較寬鬆，僅要求公開收入的大致範圍，因此也給外界留下了很大的解讀空間。
2010年，時任國務卿的希拉里曬出自己的兩個賬戶，賬戶金額均在500萬到2500萬美元之間。2011年和2012年的報表中，兩個賬戶變成了一個，財產淨值的範圍也下降至了500萬到2500萬美元，不知是這一段時間中希拉里的淨資產真的減少了，還是兩個賬戶中的資產合併之後仍處於500萬到2500萬美元之間。
電視採訪中，希拉里被問及是否清楚財產的具體數目，她透露自己名下有兩座豪宅並表示只知其大概的價值。主持人問到其總財產是否超過百萬時，希拉里作出了肯定回答。
克林頓夫婦在職時，民衆對其財務狀況知之甚少，如今夫妻兩人都不再擔任官職，沒有了公開的報稅記錄，瞭解就更少。律師及美國政府道德署官員解釋道，個人的財產申報的確比較模糊，不過由於申報制度的立足點在防止“利益衝突”，因此只要能消除利益衝突的可能性，財產狀況不必事無鉅細全公開。個人資產、債務情況如基金、股票、信用卡債務等只有在超過一定數額時才需要公佈。
2008年大選期間，希拉里的報稅單顯示其2001年到2006年間的總收入爲8730萬美元。據悉，比爾·克林頓2007年到2012年僅演講收入就高達4920萬美元。如此一來，克林頓一家2001年到2012年的收入至少有1.37億美元。比爾和希拉里演講邀約一直不斷，再加上希拉里新書的版稅，一家人的收入相當可觀。據彭博新聞社估計，希拉里“離任16個月內已入賬至少1200萬美元”。
但財富過多有時可能也會壞事。2012年大選，羅姆尼就砸在了“太有錢”上。彼時羅姆尼財產淨值近2.5億美元，民主黨“逼迫”其公開報稅單，迫於壓力，羅姆尼只好公開，結果繳稅率低引發大震盪。
如果希拉里決意參加2016年大選，外界一定會向其施壓，要求其公佈更多更新的財產情況。畢竟希拉里的對手和支持者都想知道，在看重平民主義和收入平等的大選中，她的個人財富會產生多大的影響。或許，也只有到那時才能知道希拉里究竟有多富。

(此爲參考新聞)