Romney: I Never Paid Less Than 13 Percent In Taxes

[kpete]

Last edited Thu Aug 16, 2012, 04:31 PM - Edit history (1)

The fascination with taxes I've paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues we face. But I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So I've paid taxes every single year. Harry Reid's charge is totally false. I'm sure waiting for Harry to put up whoever told him. I don't believe it for a minute by the way. But every year I've paid at least 13 percent and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why the amount goes well above 20 percent.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/romney-i-never-paid-less-than-13-percent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/16/mitt-romney-tax-rate_n_1790411.html


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http://www.buzzfeed.com/johnstanton/reid-dismisses-romney-payment-claim

Reid Dismisses Romney Tax Claim

“We'll believe it when we see it,” says spokesman in response to Romney's assertion Thursday that he's paid at least 13% of his income in taxes every year for the last decade.

[truebrit71]

1. Simplest way to verify that it is to release the returns...

..you don't mind if we don't just take your word for it do you old bean?

[tomm2thumbs]

65. ah, but he hasn't finished THIS year's yet!!?

[Angry Dragon]

2. he should list the charities

[alfredo]

30. The Mormon church is probably a main charity due to their 10% tithe requirement.

The others could be Mormon and RNC front groups.

[PatSeg]

48. I'm sure they are referring to tithing to the Mormon church

and I'm sorry, that is NOT charity. Money from the Mormon church had a lot to do with Prop 8 passing in California. That is not my idea of charitable.

[billky]

63. charities my butt

He's paying the 10% to the Mormon church because it's required of him. Wonder if he gives to any homeless or hunger charities? Not! And by the way, I think that's what he's hiding in his taxes. If he makes them public, I'm sure he cheated the Mormon church out of a lot of money. He couldn't let them see that, could he? Scum-bag.

[alfredo]

64. He needs to be pushed on the Swiss bank amnesty. I bet that is something they will spring

on him at an opportune time.

[TheCowsCameHome]

3. "Trust, but verify"

Who said that, Mitt?

[rfranklin]

4. I want Mitt to vindicate himself and show that he's an honest man...

Release those returns, Mitt, and shut up Obama and his cronies!

[russspeakeasy]

5. Bullmitt !

[Fumesucker]

6. The word "income" does not appear in the text at the link..

[Robb]

11. Indeed it does not.

[berni_mccoy]

13. Yep. Probably paid unavoidable property taxes.

[nolabels]

40. Bingo!

Every word that comes from his lips is some kind of calculated lie

[HiPointDem]

7. even if he's telling the truth, it's shocking.

[ananda]

8. Just becuz you say so, eh?

And we're supposed to just take you on your word because
you have some divine right to privacy because you're rich
and entitled.

I feel as though Romney thinks he's some kind of royalty and
people should be grateful and willing to have him rule us as an
autocratic absolute monarch.

[AtomicKitten]

9. I don't believe you. Prove it.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Then what is there for Democrats to pick on?

He and Ann keep repeating the fact they don't want to give the opposition any ammunition by releasing the returns. Mitt now says he's as clean as snow so why not give us a look?

[democrat_patriot]

12. But 0.00% in INCOME taxes. Big difference.

Reid said INCOME taxes, you say 'taxes'.

[phantom power]

14. What did he never pay more than? 14%?

[MyshkinCommaPrince]

15. "I never paid less than 13% in taxes..."

"... when I paid any taxes at all."

Seems like there could be a careful dodge in that statement. I'd like to see the full quote.

[Marrah_G]

16. Mitt loves NH because there is no income tax or sales tax there

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. "Add in the amount that goes to charity"

Hey Mittwit - Charitable contributions are tax DEDUCTIONS.

[Renew Deal]

18. Money paid to charity is not money paid to taxes

[NeverEnuff]

19. Liar

Prove it!

[pnwmom]

20. Then it must be the 2009 Swiss bank account criminal amnesty he needs to hide. nt

[surrealAmerican]

25. ... or voter fraud, ...

... or lying to investors, or embarrassing "charitable" contributions ...


Actually, there are quite a number of things he could be hiding.

[ProSense]

21. LOL!

Bet you $10,000 he thought the issue was going away.

[RedStateLiberal]

22. Even if true, this shows his elitism.

The rich can get away with paying much less than what most hard working Americans pay.

I guarantee that when most people hear he's never paid less than 13% they cringe and wonder how someone can get away with that low rate while they're making much less but paying much more in taxes.

This gives more credence to the President's insistence that the wealthy pay their fair share.

Thanks Mitt!

[MANative]

23. Mrs. Greenspan and Chris Cilizza blessed Romney's comment...

with the idea that "A candidate at this level couldn't possibly lie about a statement this specific." (paraphrased)

Of course. And the only way to prove or disprove is to release the returns, which Queen Ann has now again refused, on King Mitt's behalf, to do. Grrr.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

24. Andrea Mitchell suggested this would put the tax return issue to rest

She was discussing this with a pundit whose name I didn't get. They agreed that if we don't accept Romney's statement at face value, we would then have to believe he'd told a whopping lie in the middle of a Presidential campaign.

Romney wouldn't lie to us, would he, Andrea? LOL

[EarlG]

26. 13 percent indeed.

[RedStateLiberal]

31. Oh Taxy... you loveable scamp!

LOL!

[beac]

59. Now that we know about Ryan's little 1-5 mil "oversight", Taxy's new friend

"Trusty" should be popping up at inconvenient times too.

[sueh]

72. LOL

Taxy's new friend, "Trusty".

[tomm2thumbs]

67. bwahahahaha!!!

love it!

[tridim]

27. He said the same thing during the primary, except the number was 15%

Were you lying now or then, or both Mittwitt?

[nyquil_man]

45. In late July, he wasn't sure if he'd ever paid less than 13.9.

Next up: "I never paid less than 12%." He can probably get his tax rate down to 9% by Election Day.

[alfredo]

28. Prove it asshole

[Jim__]

29. Romney has lied about his tax returns before.

Put up or shut up.

[Scuba]

32. His charitable contributions count for exactly zero taxes paid.

[n2doc]

33. Rmoney is a proven liar

Liars need to provide evidence and cannot be trusted 'on their word'. Period.

[summerschild]

34. Yes, Mitt, and you lived in Massachusetts until it was proved you claimed Utah as your residence. .

You're not trustworthy, Mitt. Show us your f*****g tax returns!

[Lucy Goosey]

35. Why would we add in the amount you give to your weird church?

I cannot believe this idiot, expecting me to count the amount he voluntarily (or out of brainwashing) gives to the LDS church to buy his way into heaven or whatever.

Also, as many have been pointing out, it's probably not by accident that he's saying "taxes" instead of "income taxes."

Also, can I just point out that 13% or 13.6% or whatever is much lower than most working Americans pay in income tax? But poor Mitt is unemployed, so I guess that's fair.

[larkrake]

36. he is very close to finishing his remade returns

[coalition_unwilling]

37. I'm from Missouri. You have to show me - n/t

[1-Old-Man]

38. Neither have I, but then I never made tens of millions of Dollars in a year either.

[Demeter]

39. Bet he never paid more, either

[fantomas]

41. Rmoney forgot a decimal point

When his returns are leaked, he'll say he meant "less than 0.13 %"

[part man all 86]

42. You have entered the twit zone.

A universe of no tax returns or romneycare. Where Mitt thinks flip-flopping is a day at the beach. Where Queen Anne is a work at home mom. Where being totally clueless about the agony of pain that average jack and jill goes through does not exist, it is a fairy tale because everyone is rich. Yes you have entered into the twit zone.

[Hugabear]

43. Even IF taken at face value - only 13% for a MULTI-MILLIONAIRE?

Even IF Romney were telling the truth - how in the hell could anyone think that 13% would be a fair share for someone making that much money?

[WI_DEM]

44. your word isn't good enough, Mittens. Release them! and BTW thanks for bringing the

tax issue back to the forefront.

[closeupready]

46. He's lying.

It's that simple.

[beac]

60. And "lying for the Lord" is a-ok with Mormons, so he isn't even doing anything "wrong":

http://www.mormonwiki.org/Lying_for_the_Lord

Mittens is destined to fulfill the White Horse Prophecy, dontcha know, so what's a little prevarication here and there?

[renate]

75. why isn't "lying for the lord" ever mentioned?

The information at that link was pretty damning, but then I thought that if that website was created by somebody who was anti-Mormon it might be suspect, so I went looking for an objective site to back that up, and found something here, of all places:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/02/big-love-recap-lying-for-the-lord.html

In a review of an episode of "Big Love," from February of 2011, long before Romney was known to be the humongous liar that he is, "lying for the Lord" is just presented as a thing that Mormons do. I thought that was pretty interesting and I would LOVE to hear more from professors of religious studies, etc, about this.

Thank you so much for bringing this up!

[beac]

83. I found out about it on DU (wish I remembered in which OP) and I do think

it needs MUCH more exposure. I know some people say we can't "use" Romney's religion against him, but when LYING is an accepted and encouraged practice thereof, I think that makes it FAIR GAME.

[PATRICK]

47. That is so clear

he must have been using the short form, right?

[Major Hogwash]

49. Hahahahaha -- prove it Romney!!! The ball is in your court.

What a douchebag!!

[silvershadow]

50. Gee

I didn't realize I could pay my taxes directly to charity. How does that work? Can I just submit my tax forms with the notation "I gave at the office"?

[appleannie1]

51. I'll believe it when I see it. You don't know how to tell the truth.

[Bake]

52. So prove it. Put up or shut up.

You've lied so many times, Mittens, that we can't just take your word for it.

Bake

[moondust]

53. Earlier: "I am a resident of Massachusetts."

When running for governor. Bald-faced liar.

Rachel has covered this well.

[Javaman]

54. Never paid less then 13%? then mittens has a horrible accountant for a rich guy.

another reason not to consider this half wit.

For a rich guy, he's pretty fucking dumb if he's paying that much given the landscape of loop holes the wealthy can jump through to pay nothing.

[silvershadow]

55. Yes, but *what kind of taxes? Still the words

"federal income taxes" have yet to fall from his lips. Sorry, Mitt, we've got your number...

[AllyCat]

56. Giving to charity is a tax? Or paying taxes is giving to charity?

[spanone]

57. prove it. this country has no reason to take your word for it.

[beac]

58. I love the "We give 10% to charity" claim b/c it proves they

are either a) shorting their church by paying less than the REQUIRED 10% tithe or b) they ONLY "donate" to the Mormon Church.

Such charitable souls, those Rmoneys!

[Jennicut]

61. Yeah, and we will believe it when we see it.

Does Mittens really think we are that stupid?

[bucolic_frolic]

62. He knows he'll never release the taxes, so his word of 13% is meaningless

He's just trying to get the public to believe he's a 13 percenter.

So release your tax returns, Mitt. The game you're playing
is fraudulent until we see the paperwork.

[Hotler]

66. BULLSHIT! n/t

[jmowreader]

68. Thirteen percent is a disgrace when your annual income is close to the GDP of Tuvalu

According to the CIA World Factbook, Tuvalu (a Polynesian Island nation of 10,500 people) has a GDP of $32 million, a great deal of which comes from selling websites using their very cool TLD of .tv.

Romney, as far as we know, makes somewhere between $25 million and $50 million per year.

If you make more money than a whole freaking COUNTRY does, you need to send more than thirteen percent of it to the government.

[George II]

69. I just went through my last 7 tax returns........

Our income has been in the high 5-figures or very very low 6-figures over those years. The LOWEST rate I paid (Turbotax does a nice summary each year of one's tax rate) was 12.9%, the highest was 14.5%, the average was 13.7%.

And Romney is bragging that "I paid taxes" and paid a LOWER rate than I did? Totally ridiculous!!!!!!!!!

[PatSeg]

70. I've watched this clip several times

looking for an indication that he's lying. "So, paid taxes every single year." - he shakes his head side-to-side whereas if he was telling the truth, he'd probably nod his head. He also did the same thing when he said he "never paid less than 13%", but being that "never" is a negative, that might not be as revealing.

He is a real bad liar!

[emmadoggy]

71. Ooooh! Big spender!

On your MULTI-MILLIONS of dollars! Does he expect this to appease anyone??

[The Last Democrat]

73. Romney said

"But I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years, I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that"

Ok, now let we the people see them as well. Prove it.

[sorefeet]

74. Romney might have paid taxes on the money

that he CLAIMS, after every chicken shit loophole that his tax attorneys can find, BUT he paid ZERO taxes on the many millions he put in the offshore and Swiss accounts. He cheated America and his Mormon church. He and his wife just lie.

[get the red out]

76. on his cell phone plan

They left that part out.

[Blue Meany]

77. Didn't he just call Reid a liar? How dare he? Where's the evidence?

Reid has offered just as much evidence as Mitt has, but Reid never called Mitt a liar.

[Wounded Bear]

78. Wow, just like me....

I don't think I've ever paid less than 13% in taxes either.

[Deepunder]

79. If I could ask Mitt Romney about his taxes.

This is what I would love to ask Mitt Romney if I had the chance. You say you paid no less than 13 percent on your taxes. Do you include in that 13 percent what you paid in Sales Tax and any State, County and City taxes you owed and any fees you might have had to pay to any of these entities? Being you also have much of your money overseas does this 13 percent include what you might have paid to foreign countries?

[heaven05]

80. what a lying crook

a person would have to be brain dead to vote for mittflip

[peaches2003]

81. He never said 13% paid in Federal Income Tax

Not a doubt in my mind that he has added all the taxes he pays, including state, payroll, Medicare taxes, and that all adds up to 13%. He knows people will assume when he says he looked at his returns and paid 13% or more every year that the assumption will be made that that was his marginal Federal tax rate. Pure BS. He's parsing words. Just said he paid 13% in taxes (meaning ALL taxes, but didn't say that). Most people pay close to 50% when they include all taxes.

[indie9197]

85. That's the impression I get from his wording and body language

I wonder if any income from his offshore and Swiss bank accounts is on his tax returns. Do they issue 1099s?

[flyguyjake]

82. His VP candidates had to give "several years" tax returns to be vetted...

I really hope that the heat turns up on this and he gets more pressure from his own party so that he finally steps up to the plate and releases them.

He's totally hiding his offshore tax havens and his money from taxation!!!

RMoney... Time to come clean you "Christian" !!!

[ibegurpard]

84. prove it

[indie9197]

86. Too bad the tax rates aren't what they were pre-Reagan

Mitt would be in the 70-90% bracket

[hifiguy]

87. Well. it's mighty big of ol' Willard to pay

a whole 13% on all of those millions. What a wrenching and traumatic sacrifice that must have been. Much more likely that he paid essentially zero in US income taxes. Nice gig if you can lie your way there.

[Monk06]

88. And how much in tax has Bain Captial paid in the last twenty years? Considering Mitt was the

president and principal shareholder. As president of Bain he would have the last world on Bain's tax strategy.

[DallasNE]

89. You Can Be Sure

Since Romney is so bent on showing how generous he is by bringing up charitable contributions you can be sure that this 13% figure includes all taxes and not just federal income taxes, probably even including the payroll taxes he pays for his hired help. Property tax, sales and State income tax, foreign taxes -- the whole 9 yards. This guy is even more slippery than Richard Nixon -- and more dishonest.

[Matariki]

90. He's bragging about 13% ???

He should be ashamed of himself for failing to contribute to the society that made it possible for him to accumulate the incredible amount of wealth he has.

I mean, fuck, most of us pay more than 13% in taxes and make less than what his wife spends on her fucking horse.

[sulphurdunn]

91. Even assuming this crook

actually pays about 14% in federal income taxes, he still pays half of what a married couple filing jointly pays on an income between 17 and 70K per year.