Romney Paid 13.9% Tax Rate on $21.6 Million in Income.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why do we attack Mitt Romney because he benefits from tax law.? Its not his tax law. A pp accused him of trying to make more laws to benefit himself-- how so? His highest job has been as governor from Ma, not congressman.

Well, it kinda is his tax law. A few years ago, when there was a move to change the tax rules for gains realized by hedge funds and private equity groups, there was an explosion of lobbying against the change, financed by "associations" formed and funded by, among others, Bain Capital.

So is it his tax law, in that he is a dictator and instituted it, or waved a magic wand and Shazaam!, 15% tax rate? No, of course not. But he agrees with it, actively opposed changing it, paid significant sums to keep it as is, and benefits a great deal from it. It's as much his tax law as anyones.

More to the point, as President he wouldn't do anything to change it, and it needs to be changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we attack Mitt Romney because he benefits from tax law.? Its not his tax law. A pp accused him of trying to make more laws to benefit himself-- how so? His highest job has been as governor from Ma, not congressman.

His 13.9% tax rate is based on capital gains, not income from a job. If you read any economics website about lower tax rates for capital gains, you'll see that as long as there have been capital gains taxes; they have been at a lower rate than income tax. The lower rate encourages more investing and moving money through the market.

A break down of Mitt Romney's earnings also shows hes given about more than 3million of his earnings to both charities and his church.

A look at Obama's giving: 250,000 last year.

Joe Biden: 359 dollars. (Joe Biden even charges the government rent on a maid's house at his private residence so that secret service can use it!!!!! C'mon, give me a break!)

Not really true. As a manager of a fund, he gets carried interest, which is income due to his labor at Bain Capital. That carried interest is uniquely exempted from regular income tax. It gets taxed at 15%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carried_interest

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Help me out. Is the 13.9% a total tax rate including or accounting for(I know you can avoid medicare taxes and you cap out of ss) medicare, ss state taxes etc? If not what was his total taxes?
Also, does the cap gains tax go up if the bush taxes cut are not renewed?

He doesn't pay medicare taxes on unearned income (that changes next year btw, courtesy of Obama). SS cap is $106000 so he doesn't pay taxes there either. He does pay state and property taxes but they're not relevant to this discussion. We're looking at apples-to-apples comparisons of federal income taxes.

[TheManWithAUsername]

Anonymous wrote:Why do we attack Mitt Romney because he benefits from tax law.? Its not his tax law. A pp accused him of trying to make more laws to benefit himself-- how so? His highest job has been as governor from Ma, not congressman.

Can we retire this straw man now? We're nine pages into this thread, and while there are lots of posts declaring that Romney didn't break any laws, etc., there are zero saying he did. To the contrary, many of us criticizing him have explicitly noted that there's nothing wrong with exploiting existing law.

Anonymous wrote:His 13.9% tax rate is based on capital gains, not income from a job.

As addressed, not really true in Romney's case.

Anonymous wrote:If you read any economics website about lower tax rates for capital gains, you'll see that as long as there have been capital gains taxes; they have been at a lower rate than income tax.

Many people here have shown a more sophisticated understanding of this than yours. You haven't earned talking down to us from your reading of a site or two.

Anonymous wrote:The lower rate encourages more investing and moving money through the market.

Prove it. Note: a quote from a Fox Business talking head won't cut it.

Anonymous wrote:A break down of Mitt Romney's earnings also shows hes given about more than 3million of his earnings to both charities and his church....

Addressed pages ago. No one here is being unfair to Romney. No one is saying this shows his immorality. We're discussing the question of whether and why our system should allow his situation, and the fact that he supports the perpetuation of it.

[Anonymous]

"
If you read any economics website about lower tax rates for capital gains, you'll see that as long as there have been capital gains taxes; they have been at a lower rate than income tax."



---> This isn't true. One of the hallmarks of the 1986 Tax Reform Act was to equalize the tax rate for capital gains and wages. This was Ronald Reagan's policy. I humbly suggest our Reagan-worshipping Republican candidates adopt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"
If you read any economics website about lower tax rates for capital gains, you'll see that as long as there have been capital gains taxes; they have been at a lower rate than income tax."



---> This isn't true. One of the hallmarks of the 1986 Tax Reform Act was to equalize the tax rate for capital gains and wages. This was Ronald Reagan's policy. I humbly suggest our Reagan-worshipping Republican candidates adopt it.

I know! How the hell do people pontificate like that without even the most basic fact checking! They are so sure of their philosophical position that actual facts aren't necessary.

[Anonymous]

I do not care how you classify your income. Everyone should pay the same %. There is no economic benifit in treating capital gains differently. If fact, this tax policy has caused the market to shift resources into capital gains instruments at the cause of other parts of economy. The government should not pick winners and losers.