Posted on 08/03/2012 6:33:43 AM PDT by eastexsteve
After the Washington Post did their evaluation of Romney's 2010 tax return, they came up with the idea that Romney's "effective tax rate" was only 13.9 percent. After looking at this, I decided I better have a look myself, since that smelled fishy, considering the source. I'm glad I did. I downloaded all 203 pages of Romney's 2010 tax return and prepared for a long evening in front of the computer. However, as I suspected, the pro-Obama people aren't going to put much time into anything if they think they can fool the masses with just a little effort. Just a simple examination of both pages of Romney's 1040 exposes the hoax.
To begin with, the Post assumes Romney's taxable income is his AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) on line 37. But, this is misleading because this is not the amount you are taxed on. The Post runs with this error and divides it into the amount of tax due for that year on line 60. The result they get and propagate is 13.9 percent. However, this is (drum roll please) WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! And, why am I not surprised, especially considering Harry Reid baldfaced lie of last week.
Romney's REAL taxable income is displayed on line 43, which is plainly labeled "taxable income." If you take this number, and divide it into his tax due, you get an effective tax rate of 17.6 percent, and not 13.9 percent. (Duh!)
But wait, this story isn't over yet. Romney actually OVERPAID HIS TAXES for 2010. (See line 72.) He overpaid by more than 1.6 million dollars (See line 73.) So, in reality, Romney paid in 27 percent on his 2010 income, and did not get a refund! He chose to apply it to his 2011 taxes.
What the heck is it with liberals and simple math?
Government is becoming a cult! For some people it already is.
‘Hire those least able or likely to pay to collect the taxes for you. There will no doubt be some corruption and graft - but most of the money will find its way to you - and the animosity of the people will fall upon the tax collectors and not yourself.’
-from a book by Steven Brust - paraphrased from memory.
Out of work soldiers don't have any money to tax and are thus unable to pay. They needed a job and collecting taxes (and handling heavy weapons) seems a task they would be admirably suited for.
13% is a great tax rate. Simple. Direct. Fair.
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