House of Representatives
108th Congress
Wealthiest House Members and Tax Votes
A Roll Call article on September 8, 2003 listed the 50 wealthiest Members of Congress, which included 29 House Members. We have created a table with those 29 House Members along with their votes on last year's tax cut bill and the bill to make permanent the elimination of the estate tax.* Both of these measures have been heavily criticized as largely benefiting wealthy individuals and families.
Twenty-one of the 29 wealthiest House Members are Republicans, and 17 of the Republicans voted for both tax bills, with two other Republicans voting for one bill and absent for the other vote. Only one of the eight Democrats on the list voted for these measures. Six of the 29 wealthiest House Members are from California, four are from New York and three are from North Carolina. Kentucky, Wisconsin and Florida have two each on the list. The table also shows the median household income and poverty rate for each congressional district from the 2000 census.
Note that financial disclosure reports providing a range for each asset and liability, so that cumulating assets and liabilities may produce a very wide range. Roll Call has used other sources to better estimate net worth, but the figures could be low in some cases.
Data Set Sorted By wealthiest in Descending Order
Representative Sort |
Wealthiest Members (Estimated Net Worth '02) Sort |
Vote on Tax Cut Bill Sort |
Vote on Estate Tax Repeal Permanent Extension Sort |
Party Sort |
State Sort |
District |
Median Household Income Sort |
Poverty Rate Sort |
Amo Houghton |
$475,000,000 |
N |
N |
R |
NY |
29 |
$41,875 |
9.9% |
Jane Harman |
$116,000,000 |
N |
N |
D |
CA |
36 |
$51,633 |
12.7% |
Darrell Issa |
$100,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
CA |
49 |
$46,445 |
11.9% |
Doug Ose |
$53,300,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
CA |
3 |
$51,313 |
8.5% |
Robin Hayes |
$50,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NC |
8 |
$38,390 |
12.4% |
Charles Taylor |
$35,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NC |
11 |
$34,720 |
12.0% |
Nancy Pelosi |
$19,000,000 |
N |
N |
D |
CA |
8 |
$52,322 |
12.2% |
Rodney Frelinghuysen |
$18,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NJ |
11 |
$79,009 |
3.5% |
Porter Goss |
$14,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
FL |
14 |
$42,541 |
8.8% |
Chris Chocola |
$12,600,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
IN |
2 |
$40,381 |
9.5% |
Nita Lowey |
$12,200,000 |
N |
N |
D |
NY |
18 |
$68,887 |
7.8% |
Katherine Harris |
$11,600,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
FL |
13 |
$40,187 |
9.4% |
Dennis Rehberg |
$11,200,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
MT |
A-L |
$33,024 |
14.6% |
Gary Miller |
$9,900,000 |
Y |
R |
CA |
42 |
$70,463 |
6.0% |
|
Jeb Bradley |
$8,000,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NH |
1 |
$50,135 |
6.7% |
Cass Ballenger |
$7,800,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NC |
10 |
$37,649 |
10.6% |
David Dreier |
$7,500,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
CA |
26 |
$58,968 |
8.4% |
Thomas Petri |
$7,100,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
WI |
6 |
$44,242 |
6.1% |
Rahm Emanuel |
$6,700,000 |
N |
N |
D |
IL |
5 |
$48,531 |
8.5% |
F. James Sensenbrenner |
$6,500,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
WI |
5 |
$58,594 |
3.4% |
Carolyn Maloney |
$6,100,000 |
N |
N |
D |
NY |
14 |
$57,152 |
12.4% |
Paul Gillmor |
$5,700,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
OH |
5 |
$41,701 |
7.6% |
Johnny Isakson |
$5,600,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
GA |
6 |
$75,611 |
3.7% |
Anne Northup |
$5,500,000 |
Y |
R |
KY |
3 |
$39,468 |
12.4% |
|
Lloyd Doggett |
$5,000,000 |
N |
N |
D |
TX |
10 |
$41,374 |
14.8% |
Sue Kelly |
$3,900,000 |
Y |
Y |
R |
NY |
19 |
$64,337 |
6.4% |
Ken Lucas |
$3,500,000 |
Y |
Y |
D |
KY |
4 |
$40,150 |
11.4% |
James Oberstar |
$3,500,000 |
N |
N |
D |
MN |
8 |
$37,911 |
10.4% |
James Leach |
$3,200,000 |
N |
N |
R |
IA |
2 |
$40,121 |
9.9% |
*Jobs and Growth Tax Act of 2003, H.R. 2, Roll Call 182, 264-163, May 9, 2003
*Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act, H.R. 8, Roll Call 288, 222-203, June 18, 2003
Sources: Clerk of the House, Bureau of the Census, Roll Call September 8, 2003 using Member financial disclosure forms, home town newspapers and other sources
©Techpolitics 2004