Posted on 09/22/2012 3:41:14 AM PDT by tobyhill
Democrats say Mitt Romney manipulated his deductions to keep his overall 2011 federal income tax rate below a certain level for political purposes. The Republican presidential nominee is certain to face new questions about his finances.
Romney and his wife, Ann, donated roughly $4 million to charities last year, but they only claimed a deduction of $2.25 million on their tax return, filed with the Internal Revenue Service on Friday.
Romney made $13.7 million last year and paid $1.94 million in federal income taxes, giving him an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent. That was a bit above the 13.9 percent rate paid on 2010 income.
More precisely, the returns showed that the couple paid $1,935,708 in taxes on income of $13,696,951.
Democrats quickly leaped on the documents, saying Romney had claimed fewer deductions than he was entitled to just to keep his rate at such a level.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
If the Democrats spent as much time on issues as they do on making accusations, the nation would be in better shape.
The media knows no shame.
Are these people insane? We’re on the brink of another recession, the Middle East is in turmoil, and they’re fretting over Romney’s tax return?
Screw it. He shouldn’t show them any more than he already has. Now libs are demanding he show his stock portfolio.
The Dimocrats are acting a lot like Islamists. Gimmee a little and I’ll want more. Gimmee more and I’ll want it all.
"You can't give away your money. We want to do that."
Think of it as allowing them plenty of rope.
Except that Romney’s trustee specifically stated that he limited his deductions in order to keep the effective rate above 13%. No ‘hack’ needed to figure that out.
If it was a political ploy, it was brilliant.
“Only in the never-never land of the liberal media can giving money to charity be described as “manipulating your deductions”.”
That’s not actually what they’re saying. They’re saying that Romney gave money to charity, and then did not take the full deduction he was entitled to, in order to ‘manipulate’ his effective tax rate to keep it above the 13% rate he mentioned in August.
According to Romney’s trustee, that’s exactly what he did (without the sinister connotations of the word ‘manipulate,’ of course). It’s a silly issue for the Dims to harp on, but I do think it was a silly thing for Romney to do: the people who would have attacked him for paying less than 13% will still attack him (for his ‘ability to pay less than 13%), so he paid more than he needed to without reaping any real political reward. And, it was inconsistent with his previous statements that he pays what he owes and not a penny more (he even said that paying more than required would in his eyes disqualify a presidential candidate). Politically-speaking, I just don’t see the point.
Hey Democrats,
How many new jobs are attacks gonna create?
How many hungry children will your attacks feed?
How much of the national debt get paid down from your attacks?
How many Congressional budgets will get passed by your attacks?
Enquiring minds want to know....
“Only in the never-never land of the liberal media can giving money to charity be described as “manipulating your deductions”.”
That’s not actually what they’re saying. They’re saying that Romney gave money to charity, and then did not take the full deduction he was entitled to, in order to ‘manipulate’ his effective tax rate to keep it above the 13% rate he mentioned in August.
According to Romney’s trustee, that’s exactly what he did (without the sinister connotations of the word ‘manipulate,’ of course). It’s a silly issue for the Dims to harp on, but I do think it was a silly thing for Romney to do: the people who would have attacked him for paying less than 13% will still attack him (for his ‘ability to pay less than 13%), so he paid more than he needed to without reaping any real political reward. And, it was inconsistent with his previous statements that he pays what he owes and not a penny more (he even said that paying more than required would in his eyes disqualify a presidential candidate). Politically-speaking, I just don’t see the point.
Now the Democrats are upset he released his tax returns after demanding he do so. LOL
Yes indeed... seems we have a common plan... they just need to honor our request!
LLS
Oh they’re going to honor it. Because slugs and other parasites eventually die when enough salt is poured on them.
remember when a bunch of people on our side were bitching at Romney to release his taxes to take away a narrative from the left? The response by some of us was that the left would never be satisfied with anything so why bother.. well, he released them and they’re not satisfied.
They’re even bitching that he paid more and contributed to charity just to show-off.
I hope he uses these lessons as a guide in dealing with them after he becomes president because nothing that he does, including simultaneously performing an abortion and gay weddings in the oval office, on live TV will make them happy.
Just can’t figure these yo-yos out. First they claim that the rich aren’t paying their fair share, then they think it’s wrong when Romney pays more than his fair share...
Yup. They’re now saying he should pull out of the race because he’s disqualified himself by paying more than he had to.
Yes we are. How do you think we got here in the first place?
More people vote in American Idol than they do in ANY election. That should tell you something right there.
Oh My! The Washington Post is peeved. They really blame Romney for having the effrontery of running against The One.
How delicious! They want to blame him for paying more tax than he needs to “for political reasons.”
I can’t stop chuckling.
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