Romney releases 2011 tax record

[Yelnoc]

How controversial!

Indeed.

[Badger]

I'm sure that Romney doesn't feel 'entitled' to get the carried interest tax break allowing him to pay such a low rate, unlike those moocher households that pay 15% on payroll taxes but dont pay income tax.

Bingo!

Romeny's a smart guy, but his life is so insulated he apparantly never once in his life considered this.

[Averroës Nix]

Hilarious in hindsight: “I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”

[Badger]

The Kerrys and the Gores are wealthier than the Romneys. The Kennedy clan isn't exactly poor, either.

Reid said put up or shut up to Romney. Romney put up. Will Reid now admit he lied?

First line: How in God's Green Earth this relates......?

Second: Uh no, releasing two hand-picked years pryed out, with a crowbar of political pressure, is hardly "putting up".

[Craigo]

Romney's preliminary estimate released earlier this year reported AGI of $20 million, instead of the $13 million reported today.

Possible explanations:

1. Transferred income to one of his trusts (the one given in this article)
2. Chose to report a previous loss on this return instead
3. Chose to carry some of his gains forward into a future return

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2012/09/21/the-mysteries-in-mitt-romneys-tax-return

[BigSkyBob]

The Kerrys and the Gores are wealthier than the Romneys. The Kennedy clan isn't exactly poor, either.

Reid said put up or shut up to Romney. Romney put up. Will Reid now admit he lied?

First line: How in God's Green Earth this relates......?

Second: Uh no, releasing two hand-picked years pryed out, with a crowbar of political pressure, is hardly "putting up".

Apparently, you are underinformed. Reid stated he had a "reliable source" whom told him Romney paid no taxes for ten years. Romney's accounting firm has released the amount of taxes he has paid as percentage of his income for twenty years.  That information shows Reid's claim is simply false.

[BigSkyBob]

http://www.mittromney.com/disclosure/letter-from-pwc

You can read here the simple facts that show Reid's claim to be false.

[mondale84]

http://www.mittromney.com/disclosure/letter-from-pwc

You can read here the simple facts that show Reid's claim to be false.

So we should just trust Mitt, his website, and his accountants on this?

...no, thanks...

[Miles]

The Kerrys and the Gores are wealthier than the Romneys. The Kennedy clan isn't exactly poor, either.

Reid said put up or shut up to Romney. Romney put up. Will Reid now admit he lied?

First line: How in God's Green Earth this relates......?

Second: Uh no, releasing two hand-picked years pryed out, with a crowbar of political pressure, is hardly "putting up".

You should be familiar enough with Bob's trolling by now to know the first thing he would do here is attack Reid.

This was Reid's response.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[BigSkyBob]

http://www.mittromney.com/disclosure/letter-from-pwc

You can read here the simple facts that show Reid's claim to be false.

So we should just trust Mitt, his website, and his accountants on this?

...no, thanks...

Instead of admitting the obvious fact that Harry Reid lied, folks are resorting to bizarre conspiracy theories. It is simply absurd to assert that an accounting firm would put its very existence at stake by swearing out a notarized report that was false.

[DrScholl]

He has a lower percent, but still pays more taxes than you even w/ a higher income.

That's not how that works. It's about the tax burden, Romney's is clearly lower than those in lower income brackets. Fail.

[BigSkyBob]

The Kerrys and the Gores are wealthier than the Romneys. The Kennedy clan isn't exactly poor, either.

Reid said put up or shut up to Romney. Romney put up. Will Reid now admit he lied?

First line: How in God's Green Earth this relates......?

Second: Uh no, releasing two hand-picked years pryed out, with a crowbar of political pressure, is hardly "putting up".

You should be familiar enough with Bob's trolling by now to know the first thing he would do here is attack Reid.

This was Reid's response.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

This paragraph is from that article:

"According to the letter from PwC avowing the number, it is based on Romney's adjusted gross income. That means that, for instance, if Romney made investment profit of $20 million, but had losses of, say, $19.9 million, his adjusted gross income would only be $100,000. Paying 20.2 percent of $100,000 would cost Romney just over $20,000."

That is the statement of an economic ignoramus. Ones capital gains is ones profits minus ones capital losses. If that were the tax situation of some hypothetical person, he would have as income $100,000 on line  13, "capital gain or (loss)." If that were his only source of income his "total income," line 22, would be $100,000, and his "adjusted gross income," line 37, again, would be $100,000.

Surely, someone minimally aware of form 1040 could construct a hypothetical return in which "total income" and "adjusted gross income" differed radically. The point is that the author of that joke of an attempt at journalism could not. Nor, did his editor spot what was a pathetic error. That's doubly pathetic.

If you want to cite the ranting of an economic ignoramus be my guest. Don't expect anyone minimally aware of the tax code to take it seriously.

[BigSkyBob]

He has a lower percent, but still pays more taxes than you even w/ a higher income.

That's not how that works. It's about the tax burden, Romney's is clearly lower than those in lower income brackets. Fail.

The goal post shifts again.

[J. J.]

He has a lower percent, but still pays more taxes than you even w/ a higher income.

That's not how that works. It's about the tax burden, Romney's is clearly lower than those in lower income brackets. Fail.

Actually, he pays a higher percentage than most middle class families, and the maximum rate on capital gains, with no deductions, is 15%.  He has deductions, because he has charitable donations.

Complaints about Romney's taxes:  EPIC FAIL

[7,052,770]

The damage is done.  Romney's refusal to do this months ago made this into a thing.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

He has a lower percent, but still pays more taxes than you even w/ a higher income.

That's not how that works. It's about the tax burden, Romney's is clearly lower than those in lower income brackets. Fail.

Actually, he pays a higher percentage than most middle class families, and the maximum rate on capital gains, with no deductions, is 15%.  He has deductions, because he has charitable donations.

Complaints about Romney's taxes:  EPIC FAIL

I was deeply uncomfortable with the Reid approach on this - but Romney made this an issue. So, while it's cute and all to say 'epic fail', there's a lot of fail to go around.

And again, I've got no idea why they've back-pedaled in this, my immediate reaction is the campaign HAS to try to neutralise this before the debates.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Which puts this issue back in the news cycle for at least a few days.

Typical Friday news dump.....then no one gives a f[inks] over the weekend.

This.

Smart move by Team Romney.

It wasn't a 'smart move', it was basic competence, something Team Romney has been noticeably lacking for months. It only looks like a good play because the rest of their game has been so lackluster. If they can keep this up through November it'll help, but they need some sort of game changer to win this. Romney is long past the point where just not failing can get him elected.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It's now official.  Romney is an idiot who deserves to lose.

He didn't claim the full amount of his charitable contributions because he didn't want to go below the percentage of his income in taxed paid that he said he would.

(To be fair, it appears to be the case that he made contributions assuming he'd earn more this year than he did.  But to not take the deductions for solely political reasons is idiotic.)

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

I actually agree with Alex Castellanos, shoot me now.