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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMitt Romney's Maids' Salary Raises Questions
WASHINGTON -- For a woman with three houses and sixteen grandkids, Ann Romney doesn't have very much help around the house, according to her 2010 tax return.
IRS forms released Tuesday by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign show that despite reporting income of $21.7 million, the couple paid only $20,603 in taxable wages for household help in 2010. This figure was divided among four women: Rosania Costa ($4,808), Kelli Harrison ($8,667), Susan Moore ($2,238) and Valerie Cravens Anae ($4,890).
According to a number of Boston-based domestic staffing agencies, the salary range for a housekeeper is between $20 and $30 an hour, which adds up to an annual salary of $40,000 to $50,000 based on forty-hour weeks and two weeks of paid vacation a year.
But this number is only for one house, and the Romneys have three houses -- a 2,000 sq. ft. townhouse in Belmont, Mass., a 5,400 sq. ft. lake house on 11 acres in Wolfeboro, N.H., and a beach house in La Jolla, Calif., that is undergoing renovations to double its size.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/mitt-romney-maids-salary-tax-returns-election-2012_n_1228843.html
FSogol
(45,355 posts)TexasTowelie
(111,279 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)Mormon missionaries mopping for God?
Little elves that only come out when everyone is sleeping?
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)live in? Do the Romney's provide room and board? If not (actually, even if), something very hinky about those figures.
MineralMan
(146,189 posts)Wouldn't be prudent. He didn't take deductions for the undocumented folks who work at his houses. Mum's the word...wink, wink...nudge, nudge...we'll say no more.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,267 posts)to undocumented workers at way below minimum wage.
librechik
(30,663 posts)and HOW DARE this monster pay the people who clean his toilet so pitiably???
He is WORSE than Louis the 16th, because Mitt surely knows better.
broiles
(1,361 posts)The company could provide the workers to clean and the Romneys wouldn't need to report it on the tax forms. I assumes it's the same for the landscaping company he hired.
mrs_p
(3,012 posts)lumberjack_jeff
(33,224 posts)If not, I suspect that the expense is pushed onto his charitable foundation or one of his businesses.
Thrill
(19,178 posts).
nykym
(3,063 posts)undocumented landscapers, although he said he didn't know and fired them on the spot. (remember he likes to fire people). Also the 4 'Maids' could have been for the whole year in which one did not meet their expectations or were undocumented, and again he likes to fire people. Now all we need is one of the maids to come forth claiming Mitt is the father of her child, and that when he found out - yep you guessed it he fired her!
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I hate to come to the guy's defense but I can't really blame him for that. If you go to a restaurant and the dishwasher is an illegal then you have pretty much done the same thing.
If his domestic help is illegal that is a different matter. He is the employer in that situation and there is no middle man company to blame it on.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,146 posts)Is it possible this is just for time spent cleaning an office room, for example?
nobodyspecial
(2,286 posts)(would have to look it up), you must pay taxes on them as an employee. This would be a line item on a specific form. I'm sure an accountant can flesh this out, but that's the basics.
karynnj
(59,474 posts)Years ago, we hired a babysitter to fill the gap between when the kids got out of school until I got home. We never dreamed how much paperwork we created for ourselves.
FrenchieCat
(68,867 posts)or using an agency instead......
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)Either tax laws or labor laws, can't tell from such a small amount of information. Maybe some rich MSM outlet can pay these poor women for their information to see if Mitt either paid them less than minimum wage or didn't pay the withholding on their wages (or both).
sufrommich
(22,871 posts)they hire undocumented workers to save money on wages, after all, how could the Romneys afford to pay all those people a living wage?
Ilsa
(61,675 posts)Value of their room and board be listed as a form of compensation? Would Mittens have to pay FICA on that? Or not?
It's awfully cheap labor. I'd pay more to get loyal employees.