So Mr. Romney, You paid NO taxes for a decade?

[magley64]

If you could manage that, why do millionaires and billionaires need a tax break?

http://news.yahoo.com/harry-reids-wild-speculation-mitt-romneys-unreleased-tax-215329613--abc-news-politics.html

Yes, it's entirely speculative, but why not follow in dad's footsteps and release the whole kit-n-kaboodle?

The campaign must think it's better to keep it hidden and speculative rather than release and confirm it as fact...

[kawi kid]

Just like college transcripts. Better to be a wild guess than reality.

[Disclaimer]

I'd have no problems releasing my college transcripts...

[J_Copeland]

The best part about Mr. Billionaire

Each of his five sons all have 100 million dollar trust funds.

Does anyone think this guys gives a crap about us so called middle class ppl.?

[jblosser]

A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.

"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

"You guys have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."

He (allegedly) heard it a month ago.

IF he considered it true, why wait until now to tell us?

And, how do you go from "He didn't pay taxes for 10 years" to "I'm not certain" (if it's true) to "...you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years..." ? He certainly seems to be stating it as fact.

Who is this "person who...invested with Bain Capital" that called his office? Hell, I could have invested money in Bain - it's not at though he (Reid) is claiming it was Romney's right-hand man that (allegedly) told him this information.

And how would an investor know what Romney did, tax-wise?

While we're at it, again I'll ask: Where is Reid's tax return (Or Pelosi's, or any of the 517 of 535 members of Congress that won't release them)? He's not running for POTUS, but what's good for the goose oughta be good for the gander.

More noise that should be allowed to go in one ear and straight out the other.

Edited August 1, 2012 by jblosser
speling

[jblosser]

^^^ /end thread, +rep

[magley64]

So if being a US senator doesn't give you the right to request financial information from a presidential candidate...

Who has the right to request personal information about a sitting president?

If we're constantly playing the "birth certificate, no I meant long form birth certificate, no i mean certificate of live birth" game with Obama, and Now the "where's your 3rd grade MMR booster shot record?" What's wrong with asking Romney to match Obama's tax return transparency?

[Disclaimer]

^^^^----- And there's the sticky wicket. If it's good enough for the goose, it's good enough for the gander.

So, if Obama conspiracists are called Birthers, are Romney conspiracists called Taxers?

[magley64]

I'd be down^

[jporter12]

How about instead of personal documents being used only when it's strategically advantageous' date=' we just make taxes, school transcripts and certificate of birth mandatory for every public employee? That way everyone is an equal and nobody is separated by class, race, office, etc.[/quote']

Like that's going to happen.

That would be awesome though.

[smashweights]

So if being a US senator doesn't give you the right to request financial information from a presidential candidate...

Who has the right to request personal information about a sitting president?

If we're constantly playing the "birth certificate, no I meant long form birth certificate, no i mean certificate of live birth" game with Obama, and Now the "where's your 3rd grade MMR booster shot record?" What's wrong with asking Romney to match Obama's tax return transparency?

Tax records are not an absolute requirement for presidential candidacy, being a natural-born US citizen is. Regardless of the fact that I don't buy into the birther thing, your point is still pointless.

And seriously, who gives a shit about Romney's taxes? If he paid zero taxes for the past 10 years LEGALLY, then that's not his fault, that's our fucking fault for electing shit-for-brains politicians. Until any of you whiners turn down your child tax credit, EIC, refuse to invest in IRAs/401ks, make donations to charity without writing them off, or take any of the other wad of tax breaks/shelters legally permitted, then you can talk. Yeah, I'm jealous I'm not as rich as Romney too, but you can't be mad at him for (ALLEGEDLY EVEN!) doing what every American does on a smaller scale: minimizing tax burdens.

GTFO

Edited August 2, 2012 by smashweights

[magley64]

I've never itemized a charitable donation, I don't feel it's the government's job to donate to my charities.

[jblosser]

I've never itemized a charitable donation, I don't feel it's the government's job to donate to my charities.

if you owned a house and paid interest and property tax, would you take those deductions against your income tax?

do you actually report all intarwebz purchases made, and then pay your unpaid sales tax?

why would you not take a deduction to which you are legally entitled?

[smashweights]

do you actually report all intarwebz purchases made, and then pay your unpaid sales tax?

LOL @ Ohio Use Tax. State trying to collect taxes in a way that I don't think is permitted. Plus I think I saw a stat that said only like 1% of people report any Use Tax in Ohio.

Edited August 2, 2012 by smashweights

[jblosser]

just wondering, since he evidently is OK with leaving money on the table.

[ReconRat]

What IP said covers it. Nobody that makes over 250 mil a year should be doing anything other then sheltering it offshore and paying minimum taxes. And that probably can't be done unless you're making that much income.

Which means any high end tax plan is simply taxing the middle class down into a lower class. This all used to be a big subject maybe 20 years ago. When it was noticed that the healthy upper middle class was degrading into the middle middle class or lower middle class. It hasn't stopped, but nobody really sees it for what it is, nor wants to consider the ramifications.

[Uncle Punk]

I heard he took big losses and will not be paying taxes for the next five years. I don't think he is qualified to be president if he can't run a business any better than that.

Trying to equate a business owner’s tax liability to personal employee taxes makes the point of debate pointless.

[Uncle Punk]

Wait... if my business doesn't succeed' date=' is that the government's fault?[/quote']

Don't be silly you know damn well that the government is responsible for business success not its failures.

[chevysoldier]

Don't be silly you know damn well that the government is responsible for business success not its failures.

[ReconRat]

I heard he took big losses and will not be paying taxes for the next five years. I don't think he is qualified to be president if he can't run a business any better than that.

Trying to equate a business owner’s tax liability to personal employee taxes makes the point of debate pointless.

Good point. One of my friends took a beating on Apple stock in it's first collapse. The extreme losses were allowed to be spread over many years. I think he didn't pay much income tax for way more than 5 years. But that was personal income taxes only.

[cg2112]

HAHAHAHA

If only President Obama had actually said anything remotely like that...

[Disclaimer]

The issue has been cleared up by the man himself.

Relax, Everyone: Mitt Romney Paid ‘A Lot of Taxes’ Every Year

http://gawker.com/5931840/relax-everyone-mitt-romney-paid-a-lot-of-taxes-every-year

Romney is quoted to have said:

"Let me also say categorically: I have paid taxes every year. A lot of taxes. A lot of taxes,"

So, the article sums it up

Anyway, we're good now, right? "Very clear" policy to not raise taxes, of which Romney has paid "a lot."'

[chevysoldier]

HAHAHAHA

If only President Obama had actually said anything remotely like that...

So what was he referring to that "you didn't build"?

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn't get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.

[jblosser]

HAHAHAHA

If only President Obama had actually said anything remotely like that...

..

There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me -- because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t -- look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something -- there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there.* (Applause.)

If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help.* There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own.* Government research created the Internet so lothat all the companies could make money off the Internet.

The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together.

in other words, people that built businesses took and took and took and never paid in, so we're gonna get 'em. It's ok to confiscate more of "the rich's" money ("the rich" being defined as anyone who makes more than you, because class envy is a powerful tool), after all, government and every Tom, Dick, Harry, and teacher built all businesses.

[cg2112]

So what was he referring to that "you didn't build"?

Roads and bridges:

Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you've got a business, you didn't build that.

He was talking about infrastructure, that was the whole point. Wouldn't it be really weird for him to be talking about infrastructure, then throw in exactly one sentence in the middle of all that to say that business owners didn't build their own businesses?

......

As far as Romney's taxes go, I think this was a pretty low move by Harry Reid. My guess is that Reid was not being honest.

And certainly, I'm not about to claim that Romney didn't pay taxes - but I will say that he released his returns to the McCain campaign, and they chose Palin....