# WOW! Romney says he paid at least 13%. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 17, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745 "2012-08-17T03:49:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/201 "2012-08-20T17:14:56Z")
Another payday. Another realization that I’m paying a higher tax rate than the Republican nominee for president. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/202 "2012-08-20T21:46:30Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Another payday. Another realization that I’m paying a higher tax rate than the Republican nominee for president. Actually, you both paid exactly the same rate on your paycheck from work. And on any capital gains earnings you might have had. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/203 "2012-08-20T21:53:51Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > Actually, you both paid exactly the same rate on your paycheck from work. And on any capital gains earnings you might have had. I am not an accountant. But I’m pretty sure these statements aren’t true. I paid over 23% of my income in taxes this paycheck. That’s not what Mittens tells us he paid. My overall tax rate last year was about 28% or so according to our accountant. Again that’s more than double what Willard paid. It’s sick. Willard wants to run America. He just doesn’t want to actually pay for his fair share of America. We don’t need President Swiss Bank Account. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/204 "2012-08-20T22:15:04Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I am not an accountant. But I’m pretty sure these statements aren’t true. I paid over 23% of my income in taxes this paycheck. That’s not what Mittens tells us he paid. My overall tax rate last year was about 28% or so according to our accountant. Again that’s more than double what Willard paid. > > It’s sick. Willard wants to run America. He just doesn’t want to actually pay for his fair share of America. We don’t need President Swiss Bank Account. **magellan** ’s point is that you’re making your money via income while Romney makes his via capital gains. Income and capital gains are taxed at different rates. It’s crap, of course. The fact is it’s _personal wealth_. Why should Romney or any sufficiently rich person get to use a lower rate for their personal wealth than middle-class schlubs? Especially when we have to earn ours through 40 hours a week, whereas capital gains are earned without personal effort. It’s a broken system and Romney wants to break it further. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/205 "2012-08-20T22:59:28Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Never did respond to this post, Clothy. Never saw it. But it’s a moot point, since Ryan’s tax proposals will be dumped. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/206 "2012-08-20T23:00:46Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > These adults that are conversing? Your wording implies that you count yourself among them? Most of the time, I’m the only adult in the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/207 "2012-08-21T01:28:57Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > **magellan** ’s point is that you’re making your money via income while Romney makes his via capital gains. Income and capital gains are taxed at different rates. > > It’s crap, of course. The fact is it’s _personal wealth_. Why should Romney or any sufficiently rich person get to use a lower rate for their personal wealth than middle-class schlubs? Especially when we have to earn ours through 40 hours a week, whereas capital gains are earned without personal effort. > > It’s a broken system and Romney wants to break it further. Ah. Thanks for the clarification. That makes me even madder because we actually have a nice chunk of income this month from dividends on our stocks. But good investing is only about half as hard as my freelancing career or my husband’s job. If I were going to pick one for the lower rate it would be the paycheck rather than the Apple dividend check. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/208 "2012-08-21T01:40:57Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Most of the time, I’m the only adult in the conversation. …too easy. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/209 "2012-08-21T02:35:54Z")
> [@Maeglin](#): > > …too easy. Yeah, it was. And sadly, my statement was too true. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/210 "2012-08-21T15:14:11Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Never did respond to this post, Clothy. I got to thinking about this later. You said: > [@](#): > > Originally Posted by Enderw24 > Under Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, Mitt Romney would have paid .82% on his 2010 income taxes. That would have been $177,000 on $21.6 million dollars in earnings. I’ll call bullshit on that. > [@](#): > > Ryan’s plan streamlines the tax code, condensing the current six tax brackets into just two: 10% and 25%. The plan doesn’t specify where the cutoff line between the two brackets would lie, but it seems reasonable to expect that it would stay somewhere near where the 25% bracket currently hits in, at $70,700 for a married couple filing jointly. > **[Stock Portfolio Management & Tracker - Yahoo Finance](https://finance.yahoo.com/portfolios)** > > Track your personal stock portfolios and watch lists, and automatically determine your day gain and total gain at Yahoo Finance Romney would obviously be in the higher bracket. So, doing some simple math, we get 10% of 70700 = $7,070 25% of (21600000-70700) = $5,382,325 Sum of the above = $5,389,395 Where did you come up with your figures? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/211 "2012-08-21T15:29:26Z")
Are you serious? You still don’t know the difference between earned income and investment income (commonly called unearned income)? How are you even in this discussion? Ryan’s plan called for an elimination of the capital gains tax entirely, which wipes out almost of Romney’s taxable income. Only his earned income would be taxed, and it would be taxed at lower rates than today. ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2012, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745/212 "2012-08-21T16:00:28Z")
> [@Damuri Ajashi](#): > > I can tell them to go fuck a monkey but not themselves? If anything, it’s a positive sentiment. “Fuck yourself, with great gusto!”. Then again, it could imply that one wishes the target of the riposte to have an increased risk of prostate cancer if they’re 20-30. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13/631745.md?page=10)