I saw the Obama campaign ad on CNN stating that Romney was just another millionaire getting tax breaks; after all, the ad said that he paid only 14% on 20 million dollars in 2010. The misleading ad doesn’t tell you why he paid a lower rate. I am assuming capital gains and other legal means of getting his tax burden down. Why shouldn’t Mitt Romney lower his tax burden? Obama sure does.
If you take a look at Obama’s 2011 taxes, you see that he paid a rate of 20.5%, a little higher than Romney but still not that high given his income. Higher than Romney’s, but then he had book royalties and wages from his job rather than capital gains etc. But on his itemized deductions, he took deductions for his mortgage, and charitable deductions that substantially lowered his tax burden. He has been trying to lower these itemized deductions for those who make more money (such as himself, one of the “rich”) saying that it is not fair. Yet he takes them fully anyway. I assume Mitt Romney has no problem with lower capital gains rates for those investing and taking a risk in business and he takes those deductions. Who is the real hypocrite here?
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i’m surprised obama doesnt intentionally pay a higher rate (to provide cover and talking points) since the trillions he has pilfered is virtually untraceable anyways
Obama probably realizes that the GOP/Romney would never bring up his hypocrisy. After all, conservatives are too nice (and stupid).
All things considered, we should be happy when a Democrat pays any income taxes at all.
whenever I have this discussion with a liberal, I ask them why they don’t pay their “fair share” by filing a short form? Take a standard deduction, don’t claim the kids, and if that’s still not enough, write a check for whatever amount they feel is fair.
It usually ends the discussion.
Yeah, and I get so tired of my liberal friends saying they would pay a higher tax rate if the tax rate was reformed. Such hypocrites!!! They do not even donate a dollar to their favorite dem. Not even one dollar!! Sure they will spew the rhetoric and vote democratic, but will not give one lousy dollar to a campaign. Stingy little rats they are. Not to mention the fact that if someone is very wealthy, these tax rate increases will not bother them in the least; while for us, it will be a whopping $4,000 increase. And, don’t these people know that if the tax rate is reformed to what the Obama administration wants it to be, there will be no more tax credits for the poor either. People just do not get it.
Add in the taxes paid by the companies (for his percentage of ownership) that Romney invested in for those years, and his rate is undoubtedly far higher than Obama’s.
Do away with lower capital gains taxes, sure. Just as long as you also do away with corporate income taxes. That’ll make it “fair”.
It’s not fair that that the top 1% pays 20% of all federal income taxes. It’s not fair that 50% of Democrats pay no federal income taxes. It’s not fair that people of conscience must pay, via Obamacare, for the lack of conscience of others.
Anyone want to add to this list?
14% of $20 million is $2,800,000. Dang! Put that number out there Governor. Compare it to how much Obama contributed to the government. Romney gave 17 times more to the government. If you consider how much Obama has put the US in debt, then the ratio is probably a million to 0.0001 (four decimal places in honor of the administration’s protestations over the jobless rate).
The Obamas cashed in $2.7 million in US Treasury bills according to the Form 8949 they filed with their 2011 federal income tax return, so they’ve been building up quite the nice bit of savings over the years. Which is good, except that they still have a home mortgage on which they are paying interest? And no mutual funds or stocks to speak of? Their return does show a capital loss carryover from earlier years of $120K, which is a lot…and gets written off for taxes at just $3K a year. Somebody made a poor investment a while back. I think maybe they need a good money manager to handle their savings. Perhaps they should give Mitt Romney a call. He’d put their money to work and get them top dollar ROI. OK, OK, I know, the Obamas’ money and investments are probably already in a managed blind trust. Just sayin’.
Well at least he’s consistent. He doesn’t know how to manage the nation’s finances any better his own.
OK, OK, I know, the Obamas’ money and investments are probably already in a managed blind trust.
I don’t know whether Obama’s money and investments are in a blind trust, but he sure rode blind trust into the highest office in the land.
That can’t be right, Dingy Harry said Romney didn’t pay any taxes. Somebody must be lying.
I have read that the Obama’s new worth is over $10 million. Even with royalties from two books, I still wonder how they could have amassed such a fortune. The last I checked, compensation for community organizing, being a state senator in Illinois, a U.S. Senator and President is modest. I come from Chicago and think I know the answer. Why don’t more people ask this question as Obama hammers on Romney’s wealth. I can paint a picture where one built his wealth legally and the other…well, not so much.
Perhaps it’s not Romney’s fault his taxes were not higher….He might be using TurboTax! (That’d surely grant him a pass, right?)
He still has a mortgage?? Holy smokes, he needs to get on the Dave Ramsey 7 Steps to Financial Peace.
Oh, right. That would make fiscal sense.
He’s following Ric Edelman’s advice to always have a mortgage and invest the rest. Which doesn’t make any sense to me, but that’s another story.
I don’t suppose Barry declared Michele’s taxpayer-funded vacations as income.
Wait, what was I thinking?