Paying 13 percent in income taxes isn't anything to brag about

[cali]

Mitt Romney's claim that he annually paid 13 percent in federal income taxes for 10 years isn't good enough for David Simon.

Simon, the creator of the hit television series "The Wire" — reportedly President Obama’s favorite show — wrote a strongly worded blog post Thursday criticizing Romney's tax record.

"Am I supposed to congratulate this man? Thank him for his good citizenship? Compliment him for being clever enough to arm himself with enough tax lawyers so that he could legally minimize his obligations?" Simon wrote in the blog post.

<snip>

"I can’t get over the absurdity of this moment, honestly: Hey, I never paid less than thirteen percent. I swear. And no, you can’t examine my tax returns in any more detail," Simon wrote, in Romney's voice. "But I promise you all, my fellow American citizens, I never once slipped to single digits. I’m just not that kind of guy."

"This republic is just about over, isn’t it?" Simon concluded.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/244117-david-simon-paying-13-percent-income-taxes-isnt-anything-to-brag-about

[JaneyVee]

1. Absolutely disgusting for him to even act as if 13% is something to brag about.

[spin]

3. Obviously we need to overhaul our tax system. ...

Of course considering that many members of our Congress are extremely wealthy and many are bought and owned by Wall Street, the 1% and the large corporations, this is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

I favor a much simpler tax system with only a few loopholes for the middle class and the rich but also treats the poor fairly. All corporations should pay a reasonable share of their profits.

This sounds like a simple idea but in reality it is extremely complicated and almost impossible to pass into law.

I believe that the Democratic Party might actually be able to accomplish such reform but in order to do so, the people we elect to national office actually have to represent us. The Republicans are largely the party of the rich and I don't expect much help from them.

One thing I would love to see is campaign finance reform that would take most of the political advertisements off my TV. I realize that negative campaign ads work but I personally find them disgusting. Such ads also lead to much of the hatred between both parties and lead to the lack of compromise that has mired our nation in a mud pit for many years.

[antigop]

2. Romney did not claim he paid 13 percent in FEDERAL INCOME taxes for 10 years!!!

Here is what Romney said:

"I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57494683-503544/romney-i-never-paid-less-than-13-percent-in-taxes/

(edit to add):
He just says "taxes" -- he did not say "FEDERAL INCOME" tax or "INCOME" tax.

[SoCalDem]

4. Especially when he's just the type of guy who saves every receipt

so he can itemize sales tax .. He's probably including every penny paid in ANY tax..

I'd bet that if a true forensic analysis was done on his finances, we'd discover that a LOT of what he uses/gets during any time frame is "bartered" like so many super rich do

Even on a small scale, rich people all know how to do this..

When I was in high school, the kids of the Ford dealership owner, all had snazzy new braces, and the kids of the orthodontist drove snazzy new Mustangs (with dealership tags)...

Super rich people often get freebies, but since their tax forms are SO huge, and all-encompassing, those freebies are probably never even included.

A friend of my late father's always bragged that he loved his new Buicks, but he hadn't bought one in ages, even though he always drove the latest & best Buick there was.. He had "an arrangement" with a Buick dealer who "let" him drive "loaners"..

[Moral Compass]

5. 13% You People are lucky you got that

I've done a lot of jobs and I've derived my income from many sources including capital gains, but the bulk was always W2 or 1099 income.

When I was well off I had one banner year where I made what, at the time, seemed like an obscene amount of money. At the end of the year I owed over $80,000 in additional taxes. It was a combination of short term capital gains, long term capital gains, and W2 income.

This was back when the rate for anything over $250,000 was 39.6% and the capital gains rate was higher. I think long term was 20% and, if it was short term, I believe that it was the full W2 rate.

Well, I was initially shocked. But then I realized something. I had the money. And writing that check wasn't going to change anything in my life. My subsistence needs were all taken care of--this was all extra money.

Even now, looking back on it, now that I've seen a fairly substantial fortune get consumed by the Wall Street casino--writing that big check had nothing to do with the eventual outcome. I would have lost it all anyway. I've realized in retrospect that my wife's idea of burying it in the back yard was better than anything I ever came up with...

So, when I hear some rich guy with a stick up his ass like Mitt bleat that he's never paid less than 13% I just want to puke. Because he was hanging out with the guys that run the game. He wasn't playing the game. And, guys like me, that ran hot for a few years--well we were just the marks at the carnival.

We were striding around like we were the kings of the world saying things like" Is this a great country of what?"--never imagining that we were walking in the slaughterhouse door and the bolt was aimed at our forehead just like all the other fools living in their double wides, listening to the PTL club, and soaking in every lie broadcast by Fox and CNBC.

No wonder he won't release his returns. With the bald, naked truth right there in your face even the right wingers are going to flip.

Yeah, that's right. Labor is taxed at almost triple the rate of capital. And, guess what, the Ryan Path to Prosperity drops the rate on capital to 0%. How awesome is that?

That's how you build an aristocracy. And, by the way, you're not on the invite list.

This guys scares me more than Bush. He's a true sociopath. And he could win. He's got two things going for him. He's not Obama. And he's not a Democrat. And that's enough for a lot of people that I know.