His defense is that he paid just as little in the “absent” years as he did in the one he released, and he’s not releasing them because we’ll just use that fact to attack him.
Hi, I’m an “idiot.” My husband and I do not deduct our charitable contributions because we don’t think it’s very charitable to do so. We pay more than our fair share of taxes, and believe that paying taxes generally is a good thing. It pays for roads and police and firefighters and all kinds of beneficial things.
A new development:
No one plays Rope-a-Dope like Obama.
Idiot number 2 checking in. I never include my charitable deductions in my taxes, because I don’t believe they should be tax deductible in the first place and I think taking advantage of them is morally wrong. I do other things to lower my taxes that I agree with (like including my student loan interest), but yeah, I end up paying slightly more taxes than I am otherwise legally due.
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.
Questions:
- Do you feel that a tax code that allows this to happen is fair or justifiable?
- Could the United States as a government or as a country survive if everyone paid just .82% of their income in taxes?
Please please do not assume that either of these questions asked whether it would be legal or ethical or morally correct for Mitt to only pay .82%. Because that’s not what I asked and I frankly don’t care about those answers.
Another major factor that would explain the cowardice of Romney is that maybe in those years he didn’t pay his tithe to the Mormon (or is it Moron) Church. That would damage his credibility with his core base.
And yes, parking money overseas to avoid taxes is a very patriotic thing to do and should be an example for everyone that aspires to be POTUS.
I just wanted to say good on you and folks/posters like you.
Harry Reid, a fellow Mormon, hinted slightly in that direction.
Saw this story and don’t understand it. Does anybody in Obama’s camp think that’s all the assurance Romney needs? Plus they can just keep hammering away right now. A stump speech that mentions where you can find info about Obama’s returns. An Axelrod Sunday morning appearance here and there to keep this in the news. I don’t see why they’d wanna give that up.
I can’t vouch for the Obama camp, but I would be astonished if Romney took them up on it. So they get the best of both worlds: Romney’s refusal — which reinforces the meme that he has something to hide — and cover for continuing to whup him upside the head over the issue.
Or to build on Merneith’s comment, they threw the Romney camp a rope — with the noose pre-tied for their convenience.
The OP says Romney is greedy, but he till gave like 20 per cent to charity. Look, he could pay HALF of his worth in taxes and STILL be richer than all of us.
Not to give Romney more credit than he deserves, but looking at his taxes and comparing his %'s to mine, he is actually paying a higher % of his income as taxes than poor middle class me.*
I’m in the 25% bracket, took the standard deduction last year, and here are the %'s of my income that I paid in Fed. Income Tax.
% of AGI/Total income: 8.4%
% of Taxable income: 11.6%
Next time, Romney should use TurboTax instead of high-priced lawyers. 
Anybody else with a copy of their 2011 1040s who wants to share their %'s?
*Yes, I know with FICA that I’m paying a higher effective rate, but this debate is about Fed taxes, not all taxes.
His horse eats better than we do.
I paid a negative tax rate.
I don’t care if people are rich and run for office. I really don’t - that’s why I supported millionaire Jared Polis. I care about people’s politics. Romney’s America isn’t my America, but for fuck’s sake, lay off the tax thing already. It makes liberals sound whiny and jealous.
I care that the rich are gaming the political system to give less and get more from the government. I care that under the Ryan Plan, Romney would pay <1% of his income in taxes. I’d really like to prevent that from happening.
Hey, you know what? As Finance Director for a non-profit, I do not mind disclosing my personal financial information upon request to those seeking to hire me because it is not so fucking unreasonable to want assurance that the person you are trusting with the company kibble is honest, ethical and knows how to handle money. Frankly, as the person being asked which guy to hire for this position, a refusal to provide information that is normal and expected is sure as hell going to give the other candidate for the job a much better chance of getting my vote. That is just good business. From a money point of view, I wouldn’t trust the R&R team with a burned-out match from what I’ve seen so far.
No, he gets it. But he knows that the faithful will pick up on what he says and repeat it. He is pretty much the perfect politician–he has no personality of his own.
I hear that Romney has been funding polygamist Mormon splinter groups for the past decade.
Why in the flying fuck does anybody care? Obama is rich, Romney is rich. Biden is rich, Ryan is rich. Quite a few members of Congress are rich. superPAC contributors on both sides are rich.
Everybody is fucking rich. Stop it already!!! Fuck!
As an independant. I want Obama to explain what he has done to help the country in the last four years, and what he will do if reelected. I want Romney to explain what he will do if elected.
I WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE FUCKING ISSUES!!!
And believe me, I speak for millions i suspect, and both sides want our vote.
We are tired of this endless sniping and bullshit.
Both sides need to get their shit together. I am 53 and have never seen this much shit on both sides in my life. Fucking disgusting.