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http://news.bostonherald.com/nationa...articleid=1774

WASHINGTON - Teresa Heinz Kerry's vast wealth is no secret on the presidential campaign trail - but when it comes to her tax returns, it's a different story.

``As she is not a candidate for any office, she will not be making additional disclosures,'' said Jeff Lewis, Heinz Kerry's chief of staff.

Unlike her candidate-husband, Sen. John F. Kerry, Heinz Kerry said yesterday she won't make public her income tax returns, Lewis said.

Heinz Kerry's personal wealth has been an issue in Kerry's campaign - with opponents suggesting repeatedly the Bay State senator is likely to dip into his wife's wealth if he falters against President Bush.

By most estimates, he'd have a lot of dipping to do.

Heinz Kerry, heiress to the Heinz ketchup millions, has an estimated worth of about $550 million - including primary ownership of four family homes in Idaho, on Nantucket, in rural Pennsylvania and in the Georgetown section of Washington.

So far in the campaign, Heinz Kerry has said she doesn't plan to use her wealth to bolster her husband. She gave the legal limit, $2,000, to his campaign and legally can't use shared assets to assist him. But she has noted several times that, if fired upon, she might fire back in so-called ``issue ads'' to help - which is legal as long as the ads aren't coordinated with the campaign.

``Teresa has First Amendment rights to speak on issues just like anyone else and she reserves her right to do that,'' Lewis said during the primary fight in February.

``All she has said is that, in the event she is attacked, the family is attacked, and it is an issue of family honor, she would defend herself and she would defend her family.''

Politicians aren't required to release their tax returns, though most do so voluntarily. The Kerrys have always filed separate returns, allowing Heinz Kerry to keep most of the family's secrets. Lewis noted that Heinz Kerry since 1995 has provided information about her finances on her husband's annual financial disclosure reports.

Kerry released his federal tax returns earlier this week, reporting $395,338 in income and $70,575 in taxes paid.

If Republicans choose to make an issue of the tax return dodge, they could compare it to the decision by Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro of New York to release the returns of her businessman husband, John Zaccaro, in 1984.

The Democrats ceded to press and Republican pressure, but complained bitterly that questions were being raised about Zaccaro's business ties because of the couple's Italian-American heritage.

That year's nominee, Walter Mondale, said recently that the release ended up showing the pair overpaid their taxes. But it did prove a potent distraction, he said.