Romney Releasing 2011 Taxes At 3 PM, And ‘Summary’ Of 1990-2009 Returns

By artappraiser on Fri, 09/21/2012 - 2:16pm |

By Benjy Sarlin, Talking Points Memo, September 21, 2012

Mitt Romney will release a copy of his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday as well as a summary of his tax rates -- but not, as requested by Democrats, copies of his actual returns -- for the years 1990-2009 [....]

The campaign's description of Romney's taxes are below, from Romney's trustee R. Bradford Malt: [....]

My comment: From reading the portion of Mr. Malt's letter that TPM quotes there, looks to me like Romney has always had running for office in mind when filing 1990-2009, making sure he paid a certain amount on average, to the point of letting deductions slide when they might make what he paid on average lower. Seems as if he doesn't want those returns public for some other reason than the amount of taxes he paid. Also doesn't seem that his wanting to keep them private has anything to do with the amount of charitable giving (though names of charities might still be one of the problems.)

URL:

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-releasing-2011-taxes-at-3-pm-summary

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Thanks for the link. I am surprised no one has commented on this so far. I'll bite.

His rep's version needs to be treated as the highly political communication that it is--with skepticism. The incentive for this to be spun is powerful in this case, to say the least.

The standard for presidential candidates seems to be about 10 years or so. Why should it be different for Romney? Actually, it should be different--given his comments during the campaign, going back far enough to include all of his Bain years is relevant because he's made it so.

His rep's statement raises many questions for me. Starting with: how much federal tax money has his client avoided paying as a result of funds he has placed, or which have been placed on his behalf by his agents, in overseas tax havens such as Cayman's or Swiss bank accounts or whatever? What are Romney's views on the existence and current uses of offshore tax shelters by extremely affluent individuals to reduce their federal tax liability? Does he think current losses to a heavily indebted federal treasury on account of known forfeited tax revenues is acceptable?

I am not the least impressed with the effective federal tax rates his rep states that he has paid. As has been noted ad nauseum of late, these rates clearly leave him paying lower effective federal tax rates than many middle income taxpayers, as well as those more affluent than that but who are not even within hailing distance of Romney's income and wealth levels.

This goes to the question of whether he believes in a federal income tax system which is effectively graduated--graduated in practice, that is--or not?

If he does, then why has he arranged to pay a lower effective rate than so many families of ordinary means? Does he believe it is acceptable that people in his position are able to do so because of the way the tax laws are written? If no, what is he prepared to commit to doing about that if he were to be elected?

If he doesn't, then I'd like to hear a clear statement to that effect now, before the election. If he states publicly that he thinks it's just fine that he and people at or above his level of personal wealth and income pay a lower effective rate some years than middle class households at a time of high federal deficits he and his party regularly use to justify inaction on public job creation measures, avoiding layoffs of teachers, police and firefighters and cutting other public services, etc., etc., that would be helpful information for all of us to have.

by AmericanDreamer on Sat, 09/22/2012 - 9:47am

I'd like to see him issue a very clear statement about any un-taxed income, i.e. what did or did not go into or come out of his offshore accounts. He's talking about paying taxes on his taxable income as if his taxable income were his only income.

But he needs to prove it, so that the American people can decide whether he paid his fair share or his legal share.

(And this business about not deducting his "charitable donations" to avoid going below 13% just goes to show that in Romney's mind, optics and competency are the same thing. Somehow or other, money just isn't real to him and he doesn't think it should have to be real--I don't know how else to explain it but it is just so obviously strange and not presidential at all.)

by erica20 on Sat, 09/22/2012 - 1:35pm

Why Did Romney Overpay His Taxes?
It’s dumb. Also, he swore he would never do it.

By Jacob Weisberg, Slate, Sept. 21, 2012, at 4:30 PM ET

by artappraiser on Sat, 09/22/2012 - 11:21pm

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