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Romney pays 15% tax rate

pjstroh
pjstroh
Jan 17, 2012
3:28am
Block User
Romney's oppressive tax rate.

Mitt confessed today he pays roughly 15% in annual taxes on his income to the FEDS....or about 1/2 of what I do. I can understand why he wants to lower his rate even more if elected. Its the people like him that have been hit hardest by the recession. Maybe if he can lower his rate to 10% he can create jobs .
bbking
bbking
Jan 17, 2012
4:31am
Block User
Maybe if he can lower his rate to 10% he can create jobs


Hahahahahahaha.Good one PJ.
lvfritz
lvfritz
Jan 17, 2012
7:20am
Block User
PJ

I WISH you (and everyone else) would pay the taxes that Romney pays.

Why do you think he owes more than you do? Because he has it?

When I grow up, someone is going to have to explain why one person in this country should pay more than the next.
hoops2
hoops2
Jan 17, 2012
10:36pm
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: pjstroh
Romney's oppressive tax rate.

Mitt confessed today he pays roughly 15% in annual taxes on his income to the FEDS....or about 1/2 of what I do. I can understand why he wants to lower his rate even more if elected. Its the people like him that have been hit hardest by the recession. Maybe if he can lower his rate to 10% he can create jobs .


First off by paying $1 in income taxes he has paid more than 47% of the population.

PJ - I doubt that you are paying 30% as you would have to make over $179k to be taxed at the 33% rate.

IRS TAX TABLE FOR SINGLES
Unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses and heads of households)
If Taxable Income Is: The Tax Is:

Not over $8,700 10% of the taxable income
Over $8,700 but not over $35,350 $870 plus 15% of the excess over $8,700
Over $35,350 but not over $85,650 $4,867.50 plus 25% of the excess over $35,350
Over $85,650 but not over $178,650 $17,442.50 plus 28% of the excess over $85,650
Over $178,650 but not over $388,350 $43,482.50 plus 33% of the excess over $178,650
Over $388,350 $112,683.50 plus 35% of the excess over $388,350
Standard deduction $5,950

These are the rates on net taxable income after deducting exemptions, deductions, tax credits and 401k contributions.

For the record I am all for a simplified tax code so that the IRS manual is less than 100 pages


pjstroh
pjstroh
Jan 17, 2012
11:06pm
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: hoops2
Quote
Originally posted by: pjstroh
Romney's oppressive tax rate.

Mitt confessed today he pays roughly 15% in annual taxes on his income to the FEDS....or about 1/2 of what I do. I can understand why he wants to lower his rate even more if elected. Its the people like him that have been hit hardest by the recession. Maybe if he can lower his rate to 10% he can create jobs .


First off by paying $1 in income taxes he has paid more than 47% of the population.

PJ - I doubt that you are paying 30% as you would have to make over $179k to be taxed at the 33% rate.

IRS TAX TABLE FOR SINGLES
Unmarried individuals (other than surviving spouses and heads of households)
If Taxable Income Is: The Tax Is:

Not over $8,700 10% of the taxable income
Over $8,700 but not over $35,350 $870 plus 15% of the excess over $8,700
Over $35,350 but not over $85,650 $4,867.50 plus 25% of the excess over $35,350
Over $85,650 but not over $178,650 $17,442.50 plus 28% of the excess over $85,650
Over $178,650 but not over $388,350 $43,482.50 plus 33% of the excess over $178,650
Over $388,350 $112,683.50 plus 35% of the excess over $388,350
Standard deduction $5,950

These are the rates on net taxable income after deducting exemptions, deductions, tax credits and 401k contributions.

For the record I am all for a simplified tax code so that the IRS manual is less than 100 pages


Hence the words "about half" in my original post. But thanks for the Chart, Hoops. It looks like Mitt only made between $8700-$35,000 last year. Poor guy.

hoops2
hoops2
Jan 17, 2012
11:16pm
Block User
The tax chart is incremental.

On the first $8,700 the tax rate is 10%.

On the next $27k the rate is 15%, but only on the income over $8,700 and so it goes.

Considering that you have have at least one exemption, plus deductions and you seem smart enough to have a 401k your taxable income is reduced. For example if you make 50k.

Income $50,000
Less
Exemption 4,000 (not sure of the exact amount for 2011)
Deductions 8,000
401k 5,000
Net Income 33,000

Tax $4,515
Effec Tax Rate 9.0%
pjstroh
pjstroh
Jan 18, 2012
3:17am
Block User
Awesome ! Thanks Hoops! I was planning on doing my taxes at the end of the month when I got all my supporting documentation but you've saved me the trouble by doing them for me right here...and without any information, no less.

Mitt pays a drastically lower tax rate than you, Hoops....and he doesn't even work for a living unless you consider "running for president" a living. And if Mitt by some miracle wins the White House next year he has a tax plan to make sure his rate stays that way.
MarcR
MarcR
Jan 18, 2012
3:57am
Block User
Governor Romney pays 15 percent because the majority of his income is from long term capital gains. He takes the exact same advantage afforded under the tax code and the law as Warren Buffet does.

In 1997 President Clinton signed into law a bill which cut capital gain taxes from 28 down to 20 percent. In 2003 President Bush signed a tax bill which lowered it further to 15 percent.

In both cases the same arguement was made. Investments are not insured and are risky. In order to entice private capital from the sidelines the tax code was used to make such investments attractive. Any citizen can make use of this rate on any of their capital gains though such investments usually form only a very small part, if any, of most people's savings.

If you disagree with this philosophy then by all means contact your representative and urge repeal of the Clinton/Bush tax cuts on capital gains. But to infer there is something either illegal or immoral in taking advantage of the law is a stretch.
hoops2
hoops2
Jan 18, 2012
4:09am
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: pjstroh
Awesome ! Thanks Hoops! I was planning on doing my taxes at the end of the month when I got all my supporting documentation but you've saved me the trouble by doing them for me right here...and without any information, no less.

Mitt pays a drastically lower tax rate than you, Hoops....and he doesn't even work for a living unless you consider "running for president" a living. And if Mitt by some miracle wins the White House next year he has a tax plan to make sure his rate stays that way.


A nice coincidence on my tax rate as I just had my w2 dropped off. Since I work my exemptions to make sure I keep my end of year tax bill at zero I can quickly calculate my tax rate. It is 8.6% on gross income and 11.3% on adjusted income.

By the way polls are showing the race as tied so Romney may not need a miracle to win.
pjstroh
pjstroh
Jan 18, 2012
4:34am
Block User
Quote
Originally posted by: marcr

Governor Romney pays 15 percent because the majority of his income is from long term capital gains. He takes the exact same advantage afforded under the tax code and the law as Warren Buffet does.

You are 100% correct. The difference is Warren Buffet wishes to correct that injustice in the tax code while Governor Romney wishes to make it permanent.

Quote
Originally posted by: marcr

If you disagree with this philosophy then by all means contact your representative and urge repeal of the Clinton/Bush tax cuts on capital gains. .


Dont Worry. I have. Richard Lugar's response was to "unfriend" me on facebook.

Quote
Originally posted by: marcr

But to infer there is something either illegal or immoral in taking advantage of the law is a stretch.

No such inference has been made. Perhaps telling working stiffs like me that confronting such tax law as committing "class warfare" is a stretch.

Mitt's tax return simply refutes the strawman argument that most conservatives (including many on this board) make when discussing tax rates on the elite class. They all point to the top tax rate of 35% knowing full well that the elite class does not pay anywhere near that amount and in fact pays a far lower rate than most people of the middle class.
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