Tag: taxes

Mitt Doesn’t Know the Difference Between a Tax and a Deduction

Trish

mittworriedMitt Romney seems unclear on the concept of personal income tax.

“I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years I never paid less than 13%. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. I paid taxes every single year,” Romney said…”Harry Reid’s charge is totally false. I am sure waiting for Harry to put up who it was that told him what he says they told him – I don’t believe it for a minute by the way – but every year I paid at least 13% and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why, the number gets well above 20%.”

If Mitt considers what he gives to the Mormon Church to be a tax, then he must consider all the money he doesn’t get to spend as taxes

First of all, I checked my 2011 return and my actual tax rate was 17.7%. That’s how much the IRS expected me to pony up over the course of the year, with my various deductions, except I didn’t take enough out of my earnings as I went along and had to stroke a check to send in with my return for the remainder.

And I was happy to do it, if only to save those job creators like Mitt Romney from paying even more on their personal incomes, since it’s their personal incomes and not their businesses that they use to create jobs. At least, that’s what I’m told by every Republican ever.

But what really catches my ear in what Willard said today is the part about how, when you add in what he gave to the Mormon Church, why, the number gets well above 20 percent.

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Skin in the Game: When It Comes to Taxes, Mitt Romney Doesn’t Have Much

Trish

TaxRates

Aside from showing how badly poor ol’ Joe Biden is getting the shaft (not to mention you and me), I love this chart, provided by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, for graphically depicting the ginormous size of Mitt Romney’s income. I mean, seriously?

TPC goes on to explain that Obama’s 23.4% tax rate is based on the fact that only $394,821 of his income is from wages. Most of the rest of it ($441,369) was royalties from book sales. Why such income is taxed at a lower rate than wages, you’ll have to ask Republicans.

Speaking of which, most of Mitt’s “reported” $21 million is taxed at the much lower capital gains rate, so he is in the 15.4% range, while you and I are (hopefully) in the 16.7% bracket.

Joe, poor working stiff, gets most of his income from wages for being vice president, so he’s paying out the ying-yang at 30.5%, or about twice as high as Mitt. But knowing Biden, he probably doesn’t even mind.

It’s amazing to realize that the way Republicans have rigged the system, Mitt Romney is paying a smaller percentage in taxes than Pres. Obama, Vice Pres. Biden, or the average two-income family of four barely clinging to the middle class.

So who’s really got skin in the game?

Gay Couples Paying Marriage Excise Tax Under DOMA

Trish

$6,000

The average amount higher that same-sex married couples pay in income taxes than their man-lady counterparts, even in states where same-sex marriage is legal. The problem is the federal government following the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), put in place under Pres. Bill Clinton and which defines marriage as an arrangement between one man and one woman. The Obama administration has declined to defend DOMA in court but Congress may defend do so and Speaker of the House John Boehner has announced intentions to continue to do exactly that.

Republicans Twisted Up in Hypocritical Knots – Rank and File Defy Leaders, Insist on Raising Taxes on Middle Class

Jon Ponder

Steve Benen sums it up:

The political world has come to accept a basic truism: the Republican Party is, above all else, an anti-tax party. GOP officials always want to cut taxes, regardless of merit or circumstances.

The maxim is incomplete — Republicans love tax cuts, but their affection is limited to cuts for the very wealthy. An extension of the payroll break largely benefits the middle class, and that immediately gives the GOP pause.

Indeed, the very debate has tied Republicans in knots. They want to cut taxes, except for these taxes. They don’t believe tax cuts should be paid for, except these tax cuts must be paid for. They believe tax breaks always work to benefit the economy, except these tax breaks don’t do much of anything, no matter what economists say. They believe letting tax cuts expire counts as a tax increase, except these tax cuts, which don’t.

GOP Flip-Flops on Paying for Tax Cuts – Unnecessary When Cuts Benefit the Rich, But Required When Cuts Help the Middle Class

Jon Ponder

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Before the debate this week on extending the payroll tax holiday, Republicans used to insist that tax cuts paid for themselves:

CARLY FIORINA (R-CA), FORMER U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Let me just propose something that may seem crazy to you. You don`t need to pay for tax cuts. They pay for themselves.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: You need policies like an extension and making permanent the `01 and `03 tax cuts. They will be paid for because they create economic growth.

SEN. JON KYL (R) ARIZONA, second ranking Republican in the Senate: You should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

MADDOW: You should never have to pay for tax cuts. Tax cuts pay for themselves. That was Jon Kyl then.

Here`s Jon Kyl now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYL: I`ve never said that all tax cuts always pay for themselves.

Full Transcript:

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Bad News About Your 2011 Tax Return

Trish

TaxCalc

The White House is providing this handy little calculator you can use to figure out how much you’ll save on taxes if Congress passes the American Jobs Act (not likely), and how much you’ll owe if they don’t (way more likely). Start planning now how much more you’ll need to have saved in April by using the widget. Then go lobby your Republican senator or representative to Pass! This! Bill!

FOX Begrudges the Poor Their Refrigerators

Trish

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
World of Class Warfare – The Poor’s Free Ride Is Over
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Here is another brilliant summation from Jon Stewart, this one on Republican attempts to shift more of the taxation burden to the middle and poor classes, and keep the rich fat and happy. Hopefully more people will begin to understand that we are being played like violins by the ultra-rich, who know that as long as we buy into the fiction that it’s us (the struggling middle class) versus them (the struggling poor), the rich win.