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Did Mitt Romney go a full 10 years without paying taxes?

Is Harry Reid Correct?

  • Yes. Leader Reid is better at the IRS' job than the IRS.

    Votes: 6 24.0%

  • No, and Harry Reid made that crap up for political purposes

    Votes: 16 64.0%

  • No, Romney minimized his tax bill within the law, and Reid confused the two

    Votes: 3 12.0%

  • No, Reid is the victim of a black-bag operation by the RNC to make him look like an idiot

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    25
Quag said:
Only people who would never vote for Obama are birthers so who cares? but by making them look silly, some people on the fence might think who are these nutjobs on the other side? I'll go with Obama. Remember not everyone is really tuned into politics, many just have a passing interest and when they hear one side go loopy over nonsense they tend to move to the less crazy side.
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Tell me about it, I'm one of those fence sitters. This is all basically entertainment for me, since I gave up tv long ago.

I think Romney is hoping that will happen here as well. When someone jumps up and down and says Romney didn`t pay taxes for 10 years, then Romney produces forms and proves he did that guy will have a hard time getting people to take other points too seriously.
Well that the theory at least doesn`t mean it will work. If he releases too soon before the election he wont get as good an impact, plus there will be less people making outlandish claims.
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Either way, making such an outlandish accusation without any shred of evidence is nothing but slander. If I was Romney, I'd take him out back and beat his ass... which is why I could never be president.
 
It wouldn't be surprising to me if he didn't pay taxes for 10 years.
 
Reid is so dense.

By making heresay accusations he is giving Romney an out/distraction from all the tax talk by demanding Reid 'put up or shut up'.

I assume Reid has squat (he is such a dumbass, after all) - so he will have to shut up.

This will make the dems look foolish and puts Romney in a better light - without doing anything.

Unless Reid has rock solid evidence against Romney, I would imagine Obama is privately none to pleased with him right now.
 
DA60 said:
Reid is so dense.

By making heresay accusations he is giving Romney an out/distraction from all the tax talk by demanding Reid 'put up or shut up'.

I assume Reid has squat (he is such a dumbass, after all) - so he will have to shut up.

This will make the dems look foolish and puts Romney in a better light - without doing anything.

Unless Reid has rock solid evidence against Romney, I would imagine Obama is privately none to pleased with him right now.
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I'm not saying what Reid did was the right thing to do, but you're analysis that it was bad politics for him to do it is insane. People are STILL talking about his tax returns. It's worked exactly the way I think Harry Reid wanted it to work.
 
How can you vote in a poll without a viable choice to vote for?

Did Mittens not pay taxes for ten years? Who knows? But the country deserves to know and only Mittens can supply that answer - not some internet poll.
 
Tucker Case said:
Still wouldn't work. I already give thousands to charity. I'd need to make almost all of my money off of capital gains to get that low.
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I really doubt that you paid OVER that 14% rate in only FIT, not your top bracket rate but overall, take your GROSS income and actual amount PAID to IRS and compute the percentage. I think HONESTLY that you are simply guessing about the percentage of FIT that you pay relative to your gross income.

CARPE DIEM: Average Federal Income Tax Rates By Income Group Are Highly Progressive, Not Regressive

Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data | Tax Foundation

Federal Income Taxes on Middle-Income Families Remain Near Historic Lows — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Top 10 Percent of Earners Paid 71 Percent of Federal Income Taxes
 
ttwtt78640 said:
I really doubt that you paid OVER that 14% rate in only FIT, not your top bracket rate but overall, take your GROSS income and actual amount PAID to IRS and compute the percentage. I think HONESTLY that you are simply guessing about the percentage of FIT that you pay relative to your gross income.
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The past few years I've paid around 16% to the IRS. I haven't seen a return in about 10 years.
 
haymarket said:
How can you vote in a poll without a viable choice to vote for?

Did Mittens not pay taxes for ten years? Who knows? But the country deserves to know and only Mittens can supply that answer - not some internet poll.
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Does the country NOT also deserve to see the TAX records of Reid and Pelosi? Just WHY do we "deserve" this now when Obama made NO issue of McCain's taxes? Simply because Obama wants to keep Romney's taxes (and anything else) on page one, that does NOT make it "right" that Romney do ANYTHING "extra" just to please the demorats desire to make it appear that being rich is a crime. Is it not odd that Obama paid millions to keep his educational records sealed? Hmm...
 
Tucker Case said:
Still wouldn't work. I already give thousands to charity. I'd need to make almost all of my money off of capital gains to get that low.
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Start a business then, you get lots of write offs. Romney earns millions but between his charitable giving and business write offs he gets down to 13%. He still pays more per year than you, me and just about everyone else in this forum pays put together, quit your whining.
 
roughdraft274 said:
I'm not saying what Reid did was the right thing to do, but you're analysis that it was bad politics for him to do it is insane. People are STILL talking about his tax returns. It's worked exactly the way I think Harry Reid wanted it to work.
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They were talking about it long before Reid opened his mouth...where were you? The reps were even talking about it in the primaries.

And if Reid has squat proof against Romney, it will make the Democrats look childish.

Use your head - this is not some first time Senator...this is the Democrat leader in the Senate.

If it turns out he was lying - it definitely damages their credibility...at least in the short term.

Reid should of used an aid to leak it to the media...not come out and said it himself, especially if his 'source' has squat or never existed.


Remember, there is zero factual evidence (so far) that Romney has done anything wrong.

But now there is mounting evidence that one of the most important Democratic politicians is at best, a gossip.

At worst, a liar.


If Reid turns out to have nothing substantial on Romney - this will (imo) hurt the Dems way more then Romney.
 
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Actually Willard's tax dodge wasn't simple business write offs but a rather obscure ruling by the IRS inwhich earnings at Bain were counted as capital gains and not income. Capital gains have a very low taxation rate compared to wages. Very few wage earners get such treatment, the biggest difference is the fund managers get to call their year end bonus a capital gain, and that 'bonus' is actually their paycheck in a lump sum. (Is why there was such an angry cry over any talk of not paying the 'bonuses' when the stock market crashed. The 'bonus' was a tax sheltered paycheck, not a true bonus.)

No doubt Willard FILED each year, just what he PAID is the question.

And yes Harry is getting just what he wants, suspicion the rich dodge taxes in ways the working man could never.
 
sawyerloggingon said:
Start a business then, you get lots of write offs.
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Why do you think I have to pay more than most peopel at my income level? :lol:

Romney earns millions but between his charitable giving and business write offs he gets down to 13%.
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So he games the system designed to be gamed by people like him.

He still pays more per year than you, me and just about everyone else in this forum pays put together, quit your whining.
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:lol: So because you don't have anything intelligent to say about the problem, you choose to spout nonsense instead?
 
Tucker Case said:
Why do you think I have to pay more than most peopel at my income level? :lol:



So he games the system designed to be gamed by people like him.



:lol: So because you don't have anything intelligent to say about the problem, you choose to spout nonsense instead?
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You think it's nonsense that Romney pays more tax than all of us in this forum put together?


WASHINGTON—GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid a 14% effective income tax rate in 2010 after making $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations and drawing most of his income from investments, according to a summary of Mr. Romney's 2010 tax form provided by his campaign.

Mr. Romney reported $21.7 million in income. He paid $3 million in federal taxes,
 
sawyerloggingon said:
You think it's nonsense that Romney pays more tax than all of us in this forum put together?
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Well, yeah. That's something you made up while knowing sweet **** all about how much anyone else on teh forum pays in taxes each year. I'd guess that you'd be very surprised at the income levels of many people here.

But even more importantly, your statement was nonsense because it has absolutely no bearing on what is actually being discussed.
 
cpwill said:
Not "while minimizing his tax exposure". Not "did he count losses against his gains". Did he go a full 10 years without paying taxes.
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I honestly doubt it. Romney probably paid the minimum among of taxes he was legally require to pay. But for a guy like him with an army of the world's best accountants and tax lawyers at his command, he probably paid very little, and might even have legally paid nothing.
I think this is a brilliant maneuver by Ried. It puts Romney between a rock and a hard place because if he releases the returns it wil ruin him. If he doesn't, there's a cloud of suspicion hanging over him. And since Ried has done this all on his own, Obama is totally insulated.
Obama owes Ried a steak dinne after he gets reelected.
 
cpwill said:
Not "while minimizing his tax exposure". Not "did he count losses against his gains". Did he go a full 10 years without paying taxes.
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This is a lovely little trap for the Mittster. The only out he has is to release his tax returns, and by not doing that he pretty much acknowledges guilt instead of proving guilt. Double edged and I didn't think Harry Reid was that smart.
 
DaveFagan said:
This is a lovely little trap for the Mittster. The only out he has is to release his tax returns, and by not doing that he pretty much acknowledges guilt instead of proving guilt. Double edged and I didn't think Harry Reid was that smart.
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Reid is NOT that smart.

Reid didn't start this Romney tax return talk...it started in the primaries. At one point, it was BIG talk in the primaries. Of course it was going to be a big deal in the election.

All Reid did was become the poster boy for the Dems on it.

And if it turns out he has little/no evidence...then he looks stupid. Sorry...stupidER.

And so does Obama to anyone with political common sense...as this is obviously being done with Obama's approval; if not his (or someone on his staff's) urging.


I still hope Romney does NOT release the returns.

They are NO ONE's business but his and I am sick of this PC crap.

But I assume, if he continues to trail in the polls, that he will eventually release them...pity.
 
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Tucker Case said:
Well, yeah. That's something you made up while knowing sweet **** all about how much anyone else on teh forum pays in taxes each year. I'd guess that you'd be very surprised at the income levels of many people here.

But even more importantly, your statement was nonsense because it has absolutely no bearing on what is actually being discussed.[/
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QUOTE]

The op was was about dirty Harry's allegation that Romney paid no taxes in 10 years. I pointed out a tax bill he paid in that time frame and gave a specific number which proves Harry is a liar. Seems like that has bearing to me but I have to remember I am trying to have an intelligent conversation with a "conservative" like the ones that call cspan and say, "I'm a conservative but" then they recite ever Dem talking point. I don't know what you guys think you accomplish with this act.
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I dont know... There is really no way to know unless he releases his tax returns. But Reid just pulled this one out of his ass for total political purposes.
 
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