Lord Willard was so desperate to change the subject from his stated disdain for workers, that he actually released his 2011 tax return, tailored for an election year. I suppose we’ll learn more as time goes on, but I noticed two things from the start. Most of the return covers money rat-holed away in offshore tax havens, and is therefore impossible to verify. Willard picked his own rate by not claiming all his allowable charitable deduction. I have no doubt that he will refile after the election to lower his rate to near 10%.
Mitt Romney responded to months of political pressure on Friday by making public his most recent tax return and limited information from previous years, asserting that he had paid a double-digit federal income tax rate for more than two decades.Mr. Romney’s return for 2011 showed that he paid an effective federal income tax rate of 14 percent last year, or a little more than $1.9 million on adjusted gross income of about $13.7 million.
A letter from his accountants said his tax rate from 1990 through 2009 had never fallen below 13.66 percent but did not disclose the amount of tax paid. Mr. Romney’s 2010 return, which he made public in January, showed that he paid a rate of 13.9 percent.
Mr. Romney’s tax return for last year showed just how sensitive a political matter his wealth and tax rate has become. In a bit of reverse financial engineering, he and his wife, Ann, gave up $1.75 million worth of charitable deductions, raising his tax payments significantly.
Had he claimed all the deductions to which he was entitled in 2011, his effective rate could have dipped to near 10 percent, contradicting his past assurances that he had never paid below 13 percent.
But forgoing the full deductions available to him put him at odds with his own past assertions that he had never paid more taxes than he owed and his statement that if he had done so, “I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president,” as he put it to ABC News in July… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Photo credit: Class Warfare Exists
I put no stock in the letter from the accounts he pays to do what he tells them to do.
Rachel Maddow covered Lord Willard’s tax return in two segments. In the first, she showed how Romney disqualified himself, how he rigged the return to keep his rate over 13%, his tax-avoidance schemes, and how his earlier disclosures, like the letter from his accountants, were dishonest.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
In the second she discusses Willard’s scams with Chris Hayes.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Hayes caught what I did about how Willard will refile to reduce the rate to about 10%, and how 225 pages of Willard’s return are related to the offshore tax shelters we know about. Of course the return makes no mention of the offshore accounts we do not know about.
In the end, despite Lord Willard’s attempt to distract, one fact remains. Were there nothing in the other returns that would prevent Willard from being elected, he would have released them.
23 Responses to “Lord Willard’s Dubious Tax Return”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
He thinks voters are bloomin' idiots—–I think- even a bloomin' idiot would see thru this transparent attempt to fool the great unwashed out there in the vast uncharted wilderness where all us lazy non taxpaying natives live- in our little huts-
Sadly, too few voters are involved enough to know what is actually going on, they vote based on sound bytes.
Edie has a point. We need to keep hammering the truth home.
Amended return as this Willard is all for himself and not for our country…
For sure, Richard!
The only good thing about Mitt's Friday tax news dump is that the past three weeks have been SO AWFUL for him, that he'd rather talk about his income taxes!
And I'm with Harry Reid; there's a LOT more going on behind those curtains – no matter how often Willard (in his best Wizard of Oz voice) tells us to "Pay no attention to that man …" – than we'll probably ever know.
If he had nothing to hide, he would have released his tax returns, as he required Ryan to do for him.
Yep. That's true desperation. I agree that we'll bever be able to prove it, but we KNOW there's major dirt there.
Romney has paid about $500,000 more in taxes than he had to for 2011. In his own words, that makes him unqualified for president. Here is what he said,
"… if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president."
As if he was ever qualified to start! 🙂
Can someone tell me why he even bothers living in the USA? He definitely doesn't belong here! Maybe some island where he can have everything his way.
As luck would have it, based on Willard's just-released 2011 1040 Income Tax Returns, he actually lists the USA as a FOREIGN COUNTRY!
No, I am NOT kidding. From his very own website posting, just scan down a bit from the very first page – right below his address, in the Box labeled "Foreign Country Name" he put "USA"
http://www.mittromney.com/disclosure/mitt/tax-return/2011/wmr-adr-return
I did grab a Screen Shot of it … just in case
Well, he was born in Mexico.
From his 1040 Schedule B ~ Part III line 7b. At any time during 2011, did you have a financial interest or signature authority over a financial account,(such as a bank account, securities account or brokerage account) located in a foreign country? NO
What the hell? Since when are Switzerland, Cayman Islands, etc., part of the USA?
Thanks, SoINeedAName.
I was going to say that Vulture Capitalists depend on Wall Street, bit I like Nameless' answer better! Amazing!
He is living in the US so,that he can become president and lower his taxes even more.
True!
I am very worried about the closeness of the two in the polls. Elections have been stolen before, it can happen again.
The polls are improving, but your concern remains valid.
Rmoney is guilty of ethics fraud, some of which centres around his tax returns. He is big on retroactively filing tax returns; making official residence changes for more preferential tax rates; amending tax returns; resigning/retiring from Bain Capital; and now, seeing that his federal tax rate for 2011 would be approximately 10%, engineered his tax rate to 14.1% by not claiming all his charitable donations, all for political show and gain. Like Chris Hayes, I believe that on 07/11/2012, win or lose the election, Rmoney will send in an amendment to his 2011 tax return to claim that money back. There is nothing else he can do because he sold his soul for GREED and POWER.
Rmoney has claimed that if he paid too much federal income tax then he isn't qualified to be president. But here we have his 2011 return where he has paid too much. Does this mean he is dropping out of the race? I doubt it. He loves the POWER too much. And let's face it, he reserves the right to change his mind, hence his nickname Mr Flip-Flop, and he does it endlessly. What a putz!
I agree. That was my thought before I heard Hayes.
Nope, but we can dream!
Please look at the link below, this could happen. Vote and help get out the vote—we cannot allow the Republicans/Teabaggers to steal this election. Please forward this link to all your friends. Thank you.
http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/sep/21/voting-wrongs/
Excellent piece. Right on!