Posted on 09/21/2012 11:20:40 AM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Mitt Romney announced on Friday that he is releasing his 2011 tax returns.
Romney aides said the Republican presidential nominee would give the public a look at his finished tax forms. Ahead of their release, expected at 3 p.m., aides said Romney earned almost $13.7 million last year and paid more than $1.9 million in taxes — an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent.
Here are the details you will probably hear repeated for the remainder of the campaign:
Romney’s 2011 tax rate 14.1 percent Charity donations: 30 percent
Obama’s tax rate: 20.5 percent Charity donations: 22 percent
Here are some of the other things the release should reveal, according to the candidate’s website:
In 2011, the Romneys paid $1,935,708 in taxes on $13,696,951 in mostly investment income. The Romneys’ effective tax rate for 2011 was 14.1%. The Romneys 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 Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
Is this significant that it is a Friday afternoon info dump? I hope there is a strategy to this, and not just a concession to demands.
Why?
Hah! I really don’t have a problem with this.
His 2011 returns showed he paid almost $2M in taxes with another $4M to charity. I’m sure the rest of his returns look good, or he’d never do this.
His next response should be...”OK...I’ve released my tax information...not it’s time for Obama to release his college transcripts and Harry Reid to release his tax returns”. And I’d hammer it EVERY DAY!
BFL
Now... who will go back to Harry Reid and make this sc-m apologize for his lies? Does any GOP Senator have the backbone to do this? My guess would be Rand Paul or Jim DeMint
Romney donated OVER $4,000,000.00 to charity.. Biden donates AN AVERAGE OF $370.00 PER YEAR TO CHARITY. Time to criticize Romney!!! /s
It is to control the conversation and to prevent last second manipulation by the 0bama campaign.
Pukes are complaining he only paid a 14% effective rate. He probably paid more taxes in one year than these pukes will pay their entire lives.
If this is correct, I don’t see much point. The MSM won’t report that Reid was lying, or that Mitt has given a huge amount to charity. If it’s good, they’ll ignore it. If there’s some random inconsistency, they’ll jump on it. What’s the strategy here? I thought the tax return talk had died down. He should at least demand Obama release his high school transcripts.
“Now, about those college transcripts, Barry...”
Why does he not make Obama’s hidden records an issue? I cannot understand this .. .
So Romney can smugly say “See? I told you so!” at all his haters and detractors as they look at his open and honest returns.
And espcecially as they gag on his charitable donations.
Someone should send a lubed up copy of his returns to Dingy Hary. So Reid can shove them (SELF EDIT HERE!!!)
Wrong. He didn’t cave. This is a ‘BOOM’ and a ‘Your move asshole’ to the democrat financed media. The amount of charity alone over the last 20 years is mind blowing. This is good stuff.
I guess, but the media probably won’t mention his charitable giving.
IIRC, that’s higher than the national average of those who actually pay income taxes.
Buffett keeps yapping about paying higher taxes...why doesn't he do what Romney does and give more to charity instead?
This could backfire on the Dems; the dialogue could switch to giving to charity instead of taxes.
Now... who will go back to Harry Reid and make this sc-m apologize for his lies? Does any GOP Senator have the backbone to do this? My guess would be Rand Paul or Jim DeMint
Harry will say, BULL,these tax returns are just as fake as Obama’s birth certificate LOL
—— It is to control the conversation and to prevent last second manipulation by the 0bama campaign. ——
Good strategy. Good timing.
That’s the points, so I don’t see what Romney can gain by doing this.
Exactly. Twice the amount in charity as in taxes paid looks good to me. Now let’s compare that ratio with the amount of charity donations by Kerry, Pelosi, Reid, Fauxcahontas, & the rest of the Mercedes Marxists & Limousine Liberals.
waiting til the time is right...now lest see O’s info and i also want to see Harry and Nancy’s tax returns
Liberals believe they should decide where charity money should go.
Romney gave 4 Million to Charity in 2011 alone...this is 4 Million the government was unable to confiscate and waste! Imagine that!
Wonder which charities benefited from the kindness of the Romneys?
The other key factor here is besides the huge charitable donations that lowered his effective tax burden, most of his income was from investment returns. The tax level on investment returns is much lower than those on regular yearly salary amounts. If people want to be angry, they should be angry at the IRS, it’s their rules.
Of course the MSM will not reveal the truth about these little nuggets and instead continue to push the lie that Romney’s somehow using tax loopholes and tax havens to ‘escape’ paying is ‘fair share’.
He intentionally under-deducted his charitable donations (e.g., paid higher taxes)? On the one hand, he did so in order to be consistent with his previous statement re: not paying less than 13%. On the other hand, doing so is inconsistent with his previous statement that candidates should pay "only what the tax code requires" and that "if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president."
This just shows the absurdity of the focus on candidates' tax returns.
Someone needs to shove a microphone in Harry Reid’s face and ask who his “friend” was that said Romney did not pay any taxes.
When it comes to charitable giving; liberals/commies/leftists are tight-fisted SOB’s...unless it’s ‘someone else’s money’, of course.
When I was working for a Water Authority, they were taking money out for our BIG local charity collection agency. When they started funding the gay cr**, I told them to stop.
I write checks to St. Jude's Hospital or Golisano's Children Hospital.
Another good idea would be to say - "Hey, now that I've released my tax returns to satisfy those looking deeply at a non-issue, can President Obama and his campaign actually discuss some things that matter to the American people - like the state of the economy and what the next President needs to do to help fix it, and the sad state of our foreign affairs? How about it, President Obama? How about it, you folks in the press and media? Let's make the rest of this campaign be about what matters, not about immaterial and minor issues that don't matter to the average person."
remember- obozo’s charitable donations were up the past two years....prior to his running for president he gave almost nothing...i am wondering what Romney’s charitable amounts will look like, assuming there are shown, prior to say 2009...
What he has to make clear is that most of his income now and recently is from investments. ALL of the income that he had to earn to fund those investments was previously taxed - so this is really an extra layer of tax. Besides, everything that he donates to charity takes a burden off of the public sector to provide for the needs of those who are indigent or who otherwise need help. In short, he shouldn't cower behind the old idea of "I paid what I was required to pay" - he needs to be proactive and unapologetic.
whatver he does, Mitt better not challenge Barry to a game of golf.
Duh !!!!
HORRIBLE TIMING!
Who does Romney have coordinating this stuff for him - David Axelrod?
This has been a dead duck for weeks now - why put it back on the front page?
The timing will help Obama by giving the liberal media a reason to push the embassy burnings, terrorism and Fast & Furious off the front pages.
And why give democrats and liberal talking heads new information to distort?
Get ready for a revival of the “Too Rich To Govern” meme.
Uh, wrong. CONGRESS sets tax rates - assuming that the President signs the bill. Last I looked, Congress in late 2010 (when it was STILL CONTROLLED BY THE DIMS) kept the Bush tax rates, AND OBAMA SIGNED THE BILL INTO LAW.
So who is it, again, that is responsible for Romney's 14% tax rate?
Last thing MSM wants is to talk about Biden's less than 2% charitable contributions.
“Now, about those college transcripts, Barry...”
Now Barry, about those records proving payment of sales/property taxes on the land acquired from Rita Rezko.
This is happening too early for a “Friday Dump”. Friday Dumps take place after it’s too late to build a story around the info for the evening broadcast news shows (and late edition papers, when there were such things.)
This is designed to get INTO the evening news tonight. In stories that at written on short deadlines ( so little ability to editorialize/slant and get a rebuttal statement from the Obama Campaign)
Romney is putting this out there now because he WANTS people to be talking about it this weekend. Probably with the focus on his 30-freaking-% charitable giving rate.
Mitt let them stew on it and dropped a 4-million charitable contribution on ‘em!
He was always going to release his 2011 return.
Lighten up, Francis.
This allows for a reshaping of the discussion. I like the idea of spending a couple/few news cycles on who is a better judge of where my $$$ goes: the Government ( through taxation and appropriation) or me (through voluntary charitable giving)
I think, if Romney can pull it off through completion, Obama and the MSM just got rope-a-doped.
Probably the best thing to get would be his financial aid and admission documents.
They more than likely show that he represented himself as a “foreign student”.
And so is Obama now going to release his school records?
IDIOT!
Ya...show em now, how easily you cave!
That’ll strengthen your negotiating position....
There is or has been recently for some on FR, to over react to nearly everything, rather than waiting for all the information......hence the reason I wrote.
Flippin Moron!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now the question that will dog you til election day is “What did you leave out”.
Gawd, some people are stupid.
It's right there in the article:
Over the entire 20-year period, the Romney’s gave to charity an average of 13.45% of their adjusted gross income.
All of them.
thanks....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.