Bill Kristol: Mitt Romney's Low Tax Rate Is 'Kinda Weird'

[TomClash]

Source: Huffington Post

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol said Monday that he thinks Mitt Romney should pay a higher tax rate, calling the rate he pays on his investments "weird."

"I personally -- if I were designing the tax code -- would have a tax code in which Mitt Romney paid more than 13 percent, given what I know about the kind of investments he made money from," Kristol said Monday on C-Span.

The prominent conservative commentator added that he thought there would be no "economic detriment" to Romney if he paid more.

"I think it just seems kinda weird that he pays a lower rate than an awful lot of middle-class people," Kristol said.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/20/bill-kristol-mitt-romney-tax-rate_n_1810512.html

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Broken clock . . .

It's weird like everything else about Romney.

[nxylas]

1. Kristol going so off-message is also weird

Wonder what he's up to. I guess one needs to be well-versed in GOP Kremlinology to figure it out. I sincerely doubt that Kristol has suddenly decided that tax avoidance is an affront to his deeply-held moral principles.

[HereSince1628]

2. Kristol might just be pissed that a teahadist got the VP slot

rather than a neocon like Condi Cold-Warrior.

Kristol's not against money, he just wants people to win it by doing laps between the private sector and the revolving doors of the Department of Defense.

[KurtNYC]

10. This IS the GOP defense: Spin this controversy to make it about his tax rate.

We don't know what rate Romney paid and it isn't the basis of the demand for his returns. Not knowing what rate he pays has not stopped people from running down into this GOP trap.

Kristol is doing his part to catapult the propaganda here.

IT IS NOT ABOUT WHAT RATE ROMNEY PAYS!

Many (many, many, many, many, many) theories have been advanced to explain why Romney keeps refusing to produce any returns prior to 2010, ranging from "voters might learn he's wealthy" (which voters already know) to "he underpaid his church tithe" (doubtful).

None of them is really satisfactory, because none of them posits Romney concealing any facts more harmful than the blowback he is getting for not producing more returns. The problem may be that all of the prominent theories (with a couple of under-noticed exceptions) assume Romney is trying to conceal facts about his finances. Like the purloined letter pinned prominently in plain sight, what Romney's really hiding might be something more mundane: the home address written on the top of the tax form. That address that might reveal a connection between the "tax returns" brouhaha and the "voter fraud" fizzle – which may be the strongest explanation of all. Here's why.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/17/mitt-romney-tax-returns-voter-fraud-theory?newsfeed=true

[Voice for Peace]

14. This makes sense

[Canuckistanian]

3. What?

Kristol is just noticing now that rich people pay a smaller rate than the middle class?

What rock has HE been under for the last 15 years or so?

[exboyfil]

4. I think an effective ad

irrespective of the tax rate etc would be one in which conservatives are asking teachers etc to sacrifice for the greater good (teachers buying supplies, taking on extra duties, being super teachers dedicating 60+ hours a week) while Romney can't even take the hit of a somewhat lower return on invesment by having his money invested in the U.S. I might get my daughter to do one like that for Youtube.

[csziggy]

7. How about an ad saying how many teachers could have been hired

With the additional money generated if Rmoney had invested his off shore millions into the US?

[1StrongBlackMan]

5. Thanks Billy ...

That is the exact frame of the Democratic campaigns for every candidate, from top to bottom ...

The prominent conservative commentator added that he thought there would be no "economic detriment" to Romney if he paid more.

"I think it just seems kinda weird that he pays a lower rate than an awful lot of middle-class people," Kristol said.

Or, at least, it should be, if Democrats really want to win.

[xtraxritical]

8. Warren Buffett raised this issue years ago and got quite a bit less press.

[genxlib]

6. What is so hard to understand?

What is so hard to understand???

Your party set the capital gains tax to 15%. He still gets to write off some of it. Voila 13%.

He hasn't worked a day in the last 10 years so of course his income comes entirely from investments.

It isn't "weird". It's your freaking policy at work.

BTW, Ryan wants to get rid of Capital Gains taxes completely. Let's talk about how "weird" it will be when he pays NOTHING.

And of course it would be no "economic detriment" to Romney if he paid more. But don't you know you sound like a Communist when you say that? At least that is what we are always told.

[bread_and_roses]

13. Exactly so

Well said. Kristol's musing is disingenuous - as if the R policy and platform have not promoted same for my entire lifetime - in fact, they want NO OBLIGATION AT ALL FOR THE UPPER 1% TO PAY THEIR FAIR SHARE!

"It is known."

[NYC Liberal]

16. THIS: "It isn't "weird". It's your freaking policy at work"

Now they're going to play dumb when this sort of thing is exactly what they push for every single day? They know exactly what they're doing when they enact these policies.

[Blanks]

9. I can usually tell when Bill Kristol is going to say something stupid.

His lips start to move.

He's one of those folks who have his own unrefutable set of 'facts'.

[rurallib]

11. so you'd design a tax code where Romney would pay more. Then explain

how Ryan designed one where Romney only pays .82%?
Ryan just wants to rub our face in the dirt, don't he?

[cyclezealot]

12. Just goes to show what lousy reporting , rags like the " Weekly Standard " publish.

Kristol must be the last American to know about the " Carried Interest Loophole " used by hedge fund managers to not declare much of their income.

[senseandsensibility]

15. He talks like a third grader.

I wish I could make his salary for talking like a third grader. "Kinda weird", but in the real world adults are expected to be able to speak like adults or they can't get any kind of job, let alone one in "communications."

[McCamy Taylor]

17. Yet another sign the Neo Cons have written mittens off.

[TomClash]

20. We'll see

The hedge funds, high rollers and oilers haven't. I'm not sure about the neo-cons.

[D23MIURG23]

18. Its fucking amazing to be hearing that from Bill Kristol. n/t

[riverbendviewgal]

19. I am a retiree middle class.

here in Canada and I get my health care that my taxes pay....No doctor, lab or hospital bills.

Guess what I pay the same as middle class Americans. I paid about 25 percent....I am quite happy with my country and life.

this is what Bill Kristol says.

A report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service last year found that 10.4 million moderate-income taxpayers paid more than 26.5 percent on their income in taxes.

[sarcasmo]

21. When Kristol doesn't fall in line, R money is in trouble.