Romney's Tax Returns
Yesterday Republican candidate Mitt Romney released his 2011 tax return. He has been pressured to release more years of tax forms. The return shows that Romney earned almost $13.7-million in 2011 and paid more than $1.9 million in taxes — an effective tax rate of 14.1%.
The release comes after week in which a secretly recorded video showed him saying nearly half of the country doesn’t pay income taxes. It is unclear whether the timing of this release was intended to take the spotlight off of that story, or a plan to get all of the distractions out of the way so that Romney could get back to campaigning on the major election issues.
Romney paid about $3-million in federal income taxes in 2010 — or 13.9%. In 2011, the Romneys paid $1,935,708 in taxes on $13,696,951 in mostly investment income. The returns show Romney to be a very generous individual, demonstrated by the fact that he and his wife donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30% of their income. The Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions.The returns accurately support Romney's claim that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
Reactions have been mixed between criticism of the low tax rate paid by Romney, and admiration for his generosity. Here is a sampling of reactions found on www.newser.com :
1. Megan McArdle, Daily Beast: Yawn. "His tax planning seems to be entirely unremarkable and completely within the law."
2. Seth Hanlon, Think Progress: The liberal site question's Romney's decision to deduct only about half of his $4 million in charitable donations. "After the election, when the subject of your tax returns is outside of the public glare, will you file an amended tax return to claim your full deduction of charitable contributions?"
3. Jacob Weisberg, Slate: Romney intentionally overpaid his taxes (those charitable deductions) because he didn't want to fall under a rate of 13%. "By yielding to political criticism and moral pressure about how little he pays, Romney implicitly accepts that under a fairer tax system, people like him would be required to pay more."
4. Erika Johnsen, Hot Air: "So, let’s just take a second here to process this. Mitt Romney, who is ostensibly uncaring, out-of-touch, and disdainful of poor people, gave more than 13 percent of his income (amounting to millions and millions of dollars) over twenty years to charity, and didn’t even always take the full tax deduction. (The bastard!)"
5. (Democratic Senator) Harry Reid: He presses the case for Romney to release more returns, notes Talking Points Memo. These show that Romney "manipulated one of the only two years of tax returns he's seen fit to show the American people—and then only to ‘conform’ with his public statements. That raises the question: what else in those returns has Romney manipulated?"
6. Ezra Klein, Washington Post: Sorry, Harry, but this proves you were flat-out wrong when you passed along rumors that Romney paid zero taxes. That's "shameful." As for Romney, good for him for making $14 million while unemployed. The problem is "his riches have come with lack of empathy for what it’s like to be poor, or even just not-rich."
7. (Republican Senator) John McCain: Romney has now given "an incredibly detailed look at his finances." Let's move on.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Is it something that matters? Does this hurt or help the Romney campaign, or is it an unnecessary distraction? Will this help President Barack Obama, or has it buried the story about the recorded conversation? Please share your thoughts.
The release comes after week in which a secretly recorded video showed him saying nearly half of the country doesn’t pay income taxes. It is unclear whether the timing of this release was intended to take the spotlight off of that story, or a plan to get all of the distractions out of the way so that Romney could get back to campaigning on the major election issues.
Romney paid about $3-million in federal income taxes in 2010 — or 13.9%. In 2011, the Romneys paid $1,935,708 in taxes on $13,696,951 in mostly investment income. The returns show Romney to be a very generous individual, demonstrated by the fact that he and his wife donated $4,020,772 to charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30% of their income. The Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions.The returns accurately support Romney's claim that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
Reactions have been mixed between criticism of the low tax rate paid by Romney, and admiration for his generosity. Here is a sampling of reactions found on www.newser.com :
1. Megan McArdle, Daily Beast: Yawn. "His tax planning seems to be entirely unremarkable and completely within the law."
2. Seth Hanlon, Think Progress: The liberal site question's Romney's decision to deduct only about half of his $4 million in charitable donations. "After the election, when the subject of your tax returns is outside of the public glare, will you file an amended tax return to claim your full deduction of charitable contributions?"
3. Jacob Weisberg, Slate: Romney intentionally overpaid his taxes (those charitable deductions) because he didn't want to fall under a rate of 13%. "By yielding to political criticism and moral pressure about how little he pays, Romney implicitly accepts that under a fairer tax system, people like him would be required to pay more."
4. Erika Johnsen, Hot Air: "So, let’s just take a second here to process this. Mitt Romney, who is ostensibly uncaring, out-of-touch, and disdainful of poor people, gave more than 13 percent of his income (amounting to millions and millions of dollars) over twenty years to charity, and didn’t even always take the full tax deduction. (The bastard!)"
5. (Democratic Senator) Harry Reid: He presses the case for Romney to release more returns, notes Talking Points Memo. These show that Romney "manipulated one of the only two years of tax returns he's seen fit to show the American people—and then only to ‘conform’ with his public statements. That raises the question: what else in those returns has Romney manipulated?"
6. Ezra Klein, Washington Post: Sorry, Harry, but this proves you were flat-out wrong when you passed along rumors that Romney paid zero taxes. That's "shameful." As for Romney, good for him for making $14 million while unemployed. The problem is "his riches have come with lack of empathy for what it’s like to be poor, or even just not-rich."
7. (Republican Senator) John McCain: Romney has now given "an incredibly detailed look at his finances." Let's move on.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Is it something that matters? Does this hurt or help the Romney campaign, or is it an unnecessary distraction? Will this help President Barack Obama, or has it buried the story about the recorded conversation? Please share your thoughts.