After months of being taunted on the issue by Democrats and even some of his Republican primary rivals, Mitt Romney is releasing more information on his tax returns this afternoon. The candidate’s 2011 return will be released in full along with a 20-year summary of his tax rates from 1990 through 2009 (he’s already released his 2010 returns). While you can bet this won’t satisfy partisan Democrats who will call for more information, it ought to not only put this issue to rest but give voters another reason to think well of the Republican.
Is it really possible to characterize a man who paid a tax rate of over 14 percent on his income in 2011 a cheat? Even more to the point, Romney gave away to charity double — $4,020,072 — the amount of his very hefty $1,935,708 tax bill in 2011. And since it is almost completely investment income, it needs to be pointed out that Romney had already paid tax on the money when it was first earned. Over the 20-year period, he paid an average of 20.2 percent in taxes and gave away 13.45 percent to charity.
This paints a picture of a man who is not only paying his fair share of taxes, but is also a model of civic virtue in his dedication to sharing his bounty with those who are less fortunate. That’s especially true when we realize that neither President Obama nor Vice President Biden have ever given anywhere close to that percentage of their incomes to charity. The release also should give Romney a much-needed shot in the arm after a couple of shaky weeks. Having done their best to demonize Romney as a heartless plutocrat, Democrats have probably made his tax information a much bigger deal than it may have been.
Given that the answers to the questions the Democrats have been posing (and falsely rapping about) for so long actually make Romney look good, you might wonder why his campaign might dump this information to the press on a Friday afternoon, a time that is usually reserved for releasing bad news that will be swallowed up by the weekend and forgotten by Monday. But given the way things have been going for Romney lately, any opportunity to create some positive vibes had to be seized immediately.
A week that began with the Romney campaign playing defense on his 47 percent video gaffe can at least end by his showing the country that prominent Democrats like Senator Harry Reid have been lying about the Republican standard-bearer not paying taxes. Perhaps now that this is settled, Romney can go back on the offensive against the president rather than spinning his wheels explaining a foolish statement.
McCain & Steve Schmitt know way more about Romney's tax returns than do the citizens/voters???? nMaybe Mitt should allow them to talk freely about why Mitt was dumped for VP in 2008.
go away ,democratic troll..
Get a Grip,this is Contentions,not the Tea Party Mutual Admiration Society. u201cI Welcome Their Hatredu201d LOL
Maybe so, but making up facts isn't an argument.
This will ,obviously, not satisfy the democrats but it will steady the Republicans nerves and take one issue off the table, while subtly tweaking the democrats's claim that Romeny is heartless…
This shouldn't satisfy anyone. Romney demanded a decade's worth or returns from Ryan; we get a summary.
Honestly, who cares? Why would the contents make a damn bit of difference? n
This will not satisfy Democrats because it puts the focus back on BHO and, worse yet, doesn't give them anything to talk about. For example, Rexford2446 shows what lengths Democrats will go to just to keep the focus off of BHO…and the economy…and his Middle East failures….and his broken promises…and his lies. Rexford2446 and HillelA are simply brainwashed by the left and can only attack Romney instead of showing an ounce of intellect by fairly evaluating the failures of this administration. There's no convincing them because they are not suceptable to reason, we just must simply do a better job of getting responsible voters to the polls on 11/6.
while subtly tweaking the democrats's claim that Romeny is heartless n nA claim which Mitt expresses boldly.
…by giving 30% of his income to charity.
"Even more to the point, Romney gave away to charity double — $4,020,072…." n nMormons tithe. Romney gives to his church, and as a former bishop of that church he gives more.
In 2010, only half of Romney's charitiable contributions were to the Mormon church. My guess is than in 2011, his contributions to the church will be a lower percentage than that.
Is that what you guess. With Romney you can never be sure.
What is your point HillelA, that Romney may not be donating to left wing approved charities.That would be to his credit.
OK, Rashirey, here's a point even you'll get: n nMitt Romney: "I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president. I’d think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires." n nWell, to keep his tax rate artificially high for the sake of his campaign, Mitt did not take the full deduction he was entitled to for his charitable giving. So much for his qualifications to be president. according to the man himself. n nPS – When Romney loses in November, he can amend the return and collect his money.
Come on – you are being silly. He gave away millions to charity so he could lower his tax rate? Think about what you're saying. He gave away millions of dollars. Gave it away. Repeat those words. Millions. Get it? nMan, Romney is a real monster.
"He gave away millions to charity so he could lower his tax rate?" n nNo, I said he didn't take his full deduction so he could keep his tax rate artificially high. With a full deduction, estimates are that his rate might have dropped below 10% — not great for a candidate. n nSo now we have one additional tax return released and summaries. Why summaries? Ann Romney revealed the answer: Release of the returns would only provide ammo for the Dems.
You got me. I was careless in making my point.
I am still voting for Obama…and I am not on welfare, am not a "victim", have a job and a mortgage, and an education. Gracias
Sorry, the post was about taxes. But I don't blame you for wanting to change the subject.
The final paragraph began with "A week that began with the Romney campaign playing defense on his 47 percent video gaffe …"
Wow!!! This sounds nothing like the tax returns that Harry Reid was talking about. Sounds like Mitt is pretty good at giving money to charities as well.
A month ago there were professional 'writers' claiming that Romney was engaged in criminal fraud, that he hasn't ever paid any taxes, that he's worth a billion dollars, that he launders money and the fact that they weren't holding his actual return in their hand was proof of that.
And now we have carefully prepared summaries.
I can appreciate Romney's sense of it thusfar though. Summaries are probably foolish but it's clear that this is MSNBC's 'truther moment' too. He could release 20 years of returns they'd demand 25, then 30 then every single one ever generated and then they'd simply whine and moan that he has large numbers of deductions and so on. Which is fine. In 2016 whomever the Dems put up to run if he or she isn't firmly in the lower middle class at that point we need to scream relentlessly nonstop the entire campaign about that candidate's finances and such. As in a courtroom drama "You opened the door to that line of questioning…." n nFair enough.
Years ago I had a friend who by himself started a non-profit organization to do some health-care related work in Ukraine. Guess who gave him a huge chunk of change to get started? The Mormons. 40K, to be exact. It was that seed money, perhaps 15 years ago, that allowed this organization to continue. Lives have been saved and improved because of my friend's unselfish efforts, but his efforts might have never gotten off the ground without help from people like Mitt Romney, who tithe to the LDS church. There were no strings attached. (My friend is as un-Mormon as anyone could get – alcohol, illicit sex, cigarettes – you don't have to be a saint to do saintly things!) So go ahead and discount the tithing. It just reveals an absolutely stunning – but not surprising – ignorance about what Mormons do with that money.
Is this election about Mormonism? Does Romney get credit for all the good works of his faith?
You got me above, but not here. You discount his charitable giving because much of it, you assume, goes to the LDS church. Nowhere do I suggest that this is about Mormonism. I'm not sure what you think the Mormons do with all the money tithed, and I am certainly no expert on that. But based on my friend's experiences with them, they clearly do plenty of good works for the neediest people all over the planet. Maybe somebody who knows more specifics can chime in, but when my friend went to Salt Lake to finalize the grant, he was given a tour of an LDS warehouse for clothing that was being organized to go all over the place. That's an expensive operation, and it relies upon Mormons giving away their money. It's kind of like giving to Goodwill, you know, and I assume you'd think that was mighty swell.
Mitt's 14.1% tax rate is about the same as the effective federal tax rate for ordinary working stiffs who make about $50,000 per year.
Why are so many conservatives complaining right now that Romney is "struggling" or "playing defense"? On what evidence is this based? He's tied with Obama in the polls as of today. The contest has been within 0-3 points for months. Are liberals becoming hysterical, even desperate that Obama might lose? Yes. And it is only going to get worse in the next 6 weeks. The entire establishment/liberal media is against Romney. They claim, essentially, everything Romney says is a "gaffe". Those people should be ignored. Romney needs to just keep doing what he's doing.
Absolutely….."Romney needs to just keep doing what he's doing." He's on his way to VICTORY in November. Indeed, even before he's sworn in, the stalled economy will finally begin to rebound. Americans will get back to work and that's a good thing. We've got $16 TRILLION in bills to pay!
The demo and mass media do not care and more lies will come. Get ready! nWhat is TERRIBLE is the lack of support from the Rep for Romney. I guess they want more damages to the country. Some of which could be irreversible! nDid the demo complain and disqualify Kerry and Gore for being too rich and successful?
I've been somewhat bummed this past week, but not because of the polls, or because I think Romney is blowing it. Romney's release of his taxes only highlights the real problem that has become more apparent in the past couple of weeks. (Interestingly, somewhere along the line I predicted he would do this – release his taxes – but I thought it would be a defining moment of the race, one that might prove to be the proverbial final straw, as it exposed Democratic perfidy in its basest form. I'm not that optimistic now!) nSo the real problem: What kind of society are we that one of the most powerful politicians in the country deems it acceptable to make ludicrously false assertions about an opponent, and then doubles and triples-down on them? With any luck, Harry Reid will now begin the 2500 mile or so trek back to Nevada, on his knees, begging forgiveness from the American people and his constituents for being such a pathetic human being. He should be mocked and hounded out of DC. His own Party should disown him, with genuine feeling. nBut we all know that a week from now, nobody but us will remember this sorry affair, and if the Democrats hold onto the Senate we can look forward to Reid's smiling face continuing to lead that august body. nSay what you will about Romney (and people here do!), he's a fundamentally decent man. As a society, we may no longer deserve such leaders. Obama, Pelosi and Reid may just be what America sees now when it looks in the mirror – shallow, intellectually lazy, corruptible, unjustifiably self-satisfied. How sad.
I can't imagine Harry Reid is especially popular in Nevada. He only won in 2010 because his Tea Party backed opponent, Sharon Angle, turned out to be a very bad campaigner. Reid is 72, almost 73. He has four more years of this nonsense to go and then he's done.
I suspect you are correct – but he should have only 4 more days, not years! Why do we allow this garbage?
"I predicted he would do this – release his taxes…." n nHe did NOT release his taxes. He released summaries — something he would not have accepted from Ryan and something we should not accept.
You are a real horse's ass. How do you live with yourself? n nBy any measure of either man or God, Romney is a mensch, and Obama's a schmuck.
Tax returns? That's so weeks ago. But in case you didn't notice, Mitt made $13.7 MILLION for…running around the country campaigning. Not a smidgin of even what Bain Capital calls "work". Really shows he understands the lives of working families and retired seniors – oh, my bad, Iforgot, he wrote them off in May, they are the "dependents", the "victims", the ones Romeny can't care about. n nThe focus these days is on Paul Ryan's reception from the AARP when he said he wants to repeal Obamacare: loud boos. The focus these days is on the fact that we ARE so much better off today than we were four years ago: look at the stock market, those financially savvy folks sure seem to think so. The focus these days is how much worse the unrest around the world would be if Bin Laden were still alive, and how much worse the American economy would be if General Motors had died. But: Bin Laden is dead & General Motors is alive!
The tax returns that we *really* want to see–2005-2009. n nIf Mr. Romney is looking for a way to reboot his campaign, this would be it. nAnd thus prove to everyone that, indeed, there is nothing to hide. nNow THAT would really change the momentum of the campaign to your advantage. n nThis is the single issue for which Mr. Romney has never once flip-flopped. Why? It makes voters wonder. n nMr. Romney is running for President of the United States. nThis is a position of Trust. nRonald Reagan said, "Trust but Verify." nMr. Romney has said, "Trust me," re his tax returns. nIt is not unreasonable for voters to want to "Verify. n nThe longer Mr. Romney delays, the more suspicious it appears. n nObama released 8 years of tax returns nGW Bush 10 years nClinton 12 years nGHW Bush 14 years nGeorge Romney 12 years. n nWhat is the problem, Mr. Romney? Release your tax returns. n
Give it a rest. Where are Barry Soetoro's academic records? Did he apply for admission Harvard and Columbia as a foreign student? There are better things to talk about than all this. How about why Barry ran up the national debt by $6 trillion in just over 3 1/2 years. The total is now $16 trillion and apparently Barry couldn't care less.
Academic records? Once again the wingnuts change the subject. And once again, who can blame them?
Not according to MSNBC. According to them, Romney is evil because now he admits to not paying very much. He's evil because apparently Chris Balloonhead Matthews has some secret information that Romney will refile after the election so that he can pay negative 39% in taxes and of course he's evil evil evil evil anyway. n nThus Spake Balloonhead.