Romney: I've Paid at Least 13% Taxes During Decade

Newsmax ^ | AUGUST 16, 2012 | Newsmax Wires

[Tau Food]

Well, it would be a mistake for you to pay more taxes than you owe for political reasons. Just pay taxes on earnings that you received during the tax year for which you are filing a return.

If, for example, you worked and received wages of 100,000 dollars in 2011, just pay taxes on that amount for the tax year 2011. Don’t pay more taxes on those 2011 earnings when you file your return for the tax year 2012.

Similarly, if you earned dividends of 200,000 dollars in 2011, just pay the 15% tax on that amount for the tax year 2012. Don’t pay more taxes on those 2011 earnings when you file your return for the tax year 2012. Same for capital gains.

You should never pay taxes more than once for the same earnings, whether they be earnings from work or earnings from investments.

[MrChips]

Romney pays a low rate because his earned income is low and most of his taxes are paid of dividends and capital gains from investments. But the 13% or 13.9% figures are bogus, anyway, for two reasons: (1) when he was criticized for 13.9% originally by the almighyt Washington Post, they used his AGI, not his taxable income, from the 1040. Per his taxable income it was more like 17%; and (2) capital gains and dividends are taxed at the corporate level first, and so to get an idea of whatever anyone really pays on those, one should double the figure. Bottom line, Romney has paid millions and millions and millions of dollars in taxes, given just as much away in charity, and meanwhile, where is his money? Switzerland? Cayman Islands? No. Most of it is invested in American companies that, because of such investment, are creating millions of jobs.

[A.A. Cunningham]

You obviously don't know much about the tax code.

Tax free municipal bonds, capital gains, dividends, losses, charitable contributions, gifts, additional deductions, ad infinitum ...

The question you should be asking is how nearly 50% of the population pays no federal income tax at all.

[Fledermaus]

Your argument falls apart, as do others here, when you try and discuss gains as new income. To treat taxing of gains on already taxed money as new money forces logic to allow a tax rebate on money already taxed that is lost.

Thus, it’s an unfair tax. I defer to Thomas Jefferson on this idea.

[superfries]

Your comment about only paying 15% on cap gains is incorrect. Long term cap gains are taxes at 15% where short term cap gains is taxed at the same marginal tax rate of the tax bracket you are in. sO IF YOU ARE IN THE 25% TAX BRACKET AND SELL YOUR STOCKS.....AFTER ONLY HOLDING THEM FOR LESS THAN A YEAR YOU WOULD PAY 25% TAX ON THAT SHORT TERM CAPITAL GAIN. iF YOU HELD IF FOR MORE than a year and sold it and made money your tax would be 15% as this is considered a long term cap gain. Sorry about the caps:)

[JediJones]

If I save some of my money after being taxed then invest it, save it or whatever, why the hell should they get a piece of that when I collect interest or turn a profit?

You could just as easily ask why the government should get a cut of the money I earned from my labor. The answer is the same. Because as long as we have a government, the funding has to come from somewhere and it should be done as fairly as possible among the citizens.

I'd love to cut government waste and welfare and get the tax rate down to 10% or lower for everybody. But I see no reason why my salary should be taxed at a different rate from my investment income or interest. Everybody has the same motivation to earn money however they can. But if you tax one type of income less or more than another, suddenly you introduce artificial incentives and disincentives for behavior. You introduce an element of central planning into people's everyday decisions.

The fairest tax to me seems to be to have everyone contribute the same flat percentage of their income, regardless of the source of their income. I simply don't get what's fair, right or preferable about saying I don't have the right to keep all of my earnings from my labor but if I receive income from an investment or from an inheritance, then maybe I can keep all of that. Income is income. No matter where you receive it from, each dollar has the exact same value and the exact same impact on your life. That is why someone who receives a large inheritance or capital gain may not have to work at all afterwards. If they aren't taxed the same as laborers, then the burden of supporting the military, infrastructure, paying off the debt, etc., is simply shifted to the laborer and away from people who earn their money other ways. And the taxes on people collecting a paycheck will naturally have to remain higher to compensate, contributing to an unfair system of taxation.

[Texas Songwriter]

He does not have a job. He invests his money for long term. The long term capital gains tax is 15%. After writing off charities (probably millions) he is left with a rate of 13%. That is how it works. These are laws Dingy Harry voted in.