6 ms·

Why would we learn anything new about that from his tax return? Doesn't the financial disclosure filing cover that?

by Tycho 10y ago

threeseed 10y ago
Tax returns provide additional information. For example they describe in detail the tax mix e.g. income versus capital gains, as well as the nature of liquid assets, deduction types etc.
- Tycho 10y ago
  But why would that be relevant to him being beholden to Russian investors? What sort of connection/conclusion would it forseeably allow us to make?
  - edblarney 10y ago
    I guess if Russians were giving him very sweet terms on financing, he might be inclined to 'repay' them by loosening some foreign investment policy. Also - the US currently has a gang of Russians under severe financial control, i.e. they are not able to move a dollar out of Russia. If those guys are connected with 'Russian investors' they might try to lobby to get out of 'money jail'.
    - Tycho 10y ago
      But why would his tax return shed new light on this, that his previous financial disclosure did not? Are you saying that the tax return would include detail on things like financing rates that were not mentioned in the financial disclosure? I thought it would just tell us what deductions he was taking / loopholes he was exploiting with respect to his taxes.
    - edblarney 10y ago
      Yes, his tax returns may very well indicate who he is doing business with and roughly on what terms.
    - baybal2 10y ago
      >gang of Russians under severe financial control Lol, what does it mean: under control until the guy opens an account under a fake id
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
edblarney 10y ago
We wouldn't learn anything salient. But we would probably learn something like: a) he's not nearly as rich as he claims b) he's made maybe $50M this year and paid $0 in taxes due to write-offs in earlier years. That would not go down well publicly. Romney paid an effective rate of 14% on his $500K income (I think all capital gains) and that was destructive for his campaign. It just looks pretty out of touch - 99% of Americans earn less than $500K and pay far more than 14% in taxes. So it would have been a publicity disaster, enough to hurt him badly. Maybe some other skeletons in there. But I don't think anything illegal.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  The rate was 14%, the income was a bit higher. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said Friday. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/sep/21/romneys-paid-194-million-fed-taxes-2011/ http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/sep/21/romneys-paid-194-mi... He also gave $4 million to charities.
  - smsm42 10y ago
    > He also gave $4 million to charities. Somehow everybody always forgets this part - when you donate to charity, this is deduced from the taxable income, usually, but is not accounted for in tax rate calculation. Which means, if I earned tons of money and donated it all to charity - I'd pay 0% taxes, so people would say "why this fatcat doesn't pay any taxes even though we are paying a lot, he must be doing some shady things!".
    - finiter 10y ago
      Help me figure this out. Romney earned $13.7 million and paid $1.94 million in taxes. That's 14% (1.94/13.7), but you're saying doesn't account for the charitable donations. So then the formula would be 1.94/(13.7-4), right? A 20% rate?
      - 10y ago

Why would we learn anything new about that from his tax return? Doesn't the financial disclosure filing cover that?

by Tycho 10y ago

Why would we learn anything new about that from his tax return? Doesn't the financial disclosure filing cover that?

Tax returns provide additional information. For example they describe in detail the tax mix e.g. income versus capital gains, as well as the nature of liquid assets, deduction types etc.

Tycho 10y ago
But why would that be relevant to him being beholden to Russian investors? What sort of connection/conclusion would it forseeably allow us to make?
- edblarney 10y ago
  I guess if Russians were giving him very sweet terms on financing, he might be inclined to 'repay' them by loosening some foreign investment policy. Also - the US currently has a gang of Russians under severe financial control, i.e. they are not able to move a dollar out of Russia. If those guys are connected with 'Russian investors' they might try to lobby to get out of 'money jail'.
  - Tycho 10y ago
    But why would his tax return shed new light on this, that his previous financial disclosure did not? Are you saying that the tax return would include detail on things like financing rates that were not mentioned in the financial disclosure? I thought it would just tell us what deductions he was taking / loopholes he was exploiting with respect to his taxes.
  - edblarney 10y ago
    Yes, his tax returns may very well indicate who he is doing business with and roughly on what terms.
  - baybal2 10y ago
    >gang of Russians under severe financial control Lol, what does it mean: under control until the guy opens an account under a fake id

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

edblarney 10y ago

We wouldn't learn anything salient. But we would probably learn something like: a) he's not nearly as rich as he claims b) he's made maybe $50M this year and paid $0 in taxes due to write-offs in earlier years. That would not go down well publicly. Romney paid an effective rate of 14% on his $500K income (I think all capital gains) and that was destructive for his campaign. It just looks pretty out of touch - 99% of Americans earn less than $500K and pay far more than 14% in taxes. So it would have been a publicity disaster, enough to hurt him badly. Maybe some other skeletons in there. But I don't think anything illegal.

maxerickson 10y ago
The rate was 14%, the income was a bit higher. Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said Friday. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/sep/21/romneys-paid-194-million-fed-taxes-2011/ http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2012/sep/21/romneys-paid-194-mi... He also gave $4 million to charities.
- smsm42 10y ago
  > He also gave $4 million to charities. Somehow everybody always forgets this part - when you donate to charity, this is deduced from the taxable income, usually, but is not accounted for in tax rate calculation. Which means, if I earned tons of money and donated it all to charity - I'd pay 0% taxes, so people would say "why this fatcat doesn't pay any taxes even though we are paying a lot, he must be doing some shady things!".
  - finiter 10y ago
    Help me figure this out. Romney earned $13.7 million and paid $1.94 million in taxes. That's 14% (1.94/13.7), but you're saying doesn't account for the charitable donations. So then the formula would be 1.94/(13.7-4), right? A 20% rate?
    - 10y ago