Mitt Romney has released some information on his income taxes over the past two years. Turns out he's paid less than 14 percent on more than $40 million in income. He makes more in one day than most American makes all year, yet he pays a tax rate that is far less than what the vast majority of Americans pay. Keep in mind that Romney's income rolled in while he did nothing but clip coupons and hit the campaign trail. It suggests that our once progressive income tax has been turned into a farce, where the very rich get away with paying less than bus drivers, construction crews and health care workers. That's not right, and it's why the tax laws need to be changed and changed soon.
It's now obvious why Romney tried so hard for so long to hide his financial holdings. He's stashed some of his money in tax havens like Luxemburg and the Cayman Islands. He's even had a Swiss bank account. He says he's paid taxes on all his foreign holdings, but The Los Angeles Times reports that Romney failed to disclose at least 23 funds and partnerships on his most recent financial disclosure forms, including 11 based in low-tax foreign countries. While he may not have broken any laws by funneling cash into off-shore accounts and companies, Romney has clearly broken faith with the American people. He amassed his wealth by hollowing-out companies, laying off employees, ruining communities and practicing what is kindly called "vulture capitalism." He left thousands of families in hardship while he accrued hundreds of millions in wealth. He should be ashamed, but if we've learned anything over the past year, Mitt Romney has no shame.
Romney, after all, doesn't hide that he wants a tax code that rewards the 1% and makes the rest of us pay far more than our fair share. He's running for president with a plan to change the tax code to make rich Americans even richer. The Economist describes his plan as "very progressive, by 15th century standards." Romney's "help the rich get richer" plan would reduce the taxes of the top 1% by more than $170,000, while adding $600 billion to the deficit. He gets defensive when his plan is attacked, just as he gets hot under the collar when people bring up his past career as a corporate raider. He claims that any criticism of his repugnant business practices is an attack on free enterprise. It is not. It's an attack on ruthless behavior. He claims that his critics are engaging in "class warfare." It is not that either. If anything, he's demonstrated the truth in Warren Buffett's statement about class warfare: "It's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning."
Unfortunately, Romney's not the only candidate out there who is interested in making life easier for the well-to-do. Shockingly, Newt Gingrich's tax proposals are even worse than Romney's. He wants to eliminate completely the taxes on capital gains. His radical tax scheme would guarantee that most members of the 1%, including Romney, would pay little or no taxes at all. The middle class would be left to pay the country's bills, including the cost of additional tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
Perhaps that's why the GOP candidates spend their time distorting Pres. Obama's record, rather than outlining their own hare-brained plans for our country. Rick Santorum goes even further. He says talking about the middle class is misguided because, get this, it buys into "the class warfare arguments of Barack Obama." Santorum scolded Romney for using the term in a recent debate: "The governor used a term earlier that I shrink from. And it's one that I don't think we should be using as Republicans, Middle class." And why shouldn't Republicans talk about the middle class? "There are no classes in America," Santorum continued. Only a millionaire could believe this.
We shouldn't be surprised that Romney, Gingrich and Santorum all support the unhinged agenda of their political allies who now control the U.S. House of Representatives. They've promised to support radical schemes like the Ryan Budget, which abandons programs that have helped to build and sustain the middle class, including Medicare, Social Security, education assistance, health research and job training programs. They ignore the damage done to the middle class as CEO pay skyrocketed 300 percent since 1990 and corporate profits doubled. These are the candidates of the 1%, for the 1% and by the 1%. If they have their way, Mitt Romney and the wealthiest people in America won't have to release their tax returns. They won't even have to file.
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This is money removed from the economy because earned income remains constant while compound interest is expotential with regard to total wealth dollars. If this money is not returned to the economy through either wages, social programs or taxes the economy stalls. Simple economics.
The top 1% own the greatest percentage of national wealth since 1928. According to the Federal Reserve U.S. non-financial corporations now have $1.9 trillion in cash assets, the highest level as a share of total corporate assets since 1959. Wages make up the lowest share of national income since 1947 and has since 2006. Consumer spending makes up 70% of GDP. Wages must grow for the economy to prosper.
As a perspective, 1 billion will earn about 42 million in interest per year at 5%. With the top 1% only capable of investing a portion equal to less than 19% of their total yearly income, 80% of these total dollar gains are being excluded from the economy.
Since the second quarter of 2009, real GDP has increased for seven consecutive quarters. By the fourth quarter of 2010, real GDP had finally surpassed its pre-recession level in the fourth quarter of 2007. By the second quarter of 2011, after-tax corporate earnings were 12 percent higher than when the recession began and the highest percent of GDP since tracking began in 1947.
In 2010, the typical American household earned an inflation-adjusted income of $49,445, scarcely different from that in 1989 and a fall of 2.3% since 2009. Current incomes are at roughly the level of the late 1970s for those near the bottom of the income spectrum. From a real income perspective, the American economy has already experienced a lost decade, but for the median household the picture is one of a generation of stagnation.
http://www.employmentpolicy.org/sites/www.employmentpolicy.org/files/field-content-file/pdf/Mike%20Lillich/Revised%20Corporate%20Report%20May%2027th.pdf
Thus is demonstrated the major difference between the silver-spoon-in-mouth born gazillionaire Rom$ & the self made one Buffett.
Every time he comments on class warfare Rom$ inserts his foot in his mouth, doesn't he have professional politcal operative handlers who are aware of the damage to his poster boy for the callous 1% image?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-1-earners-majored-163026283.html
Have any of you heard or read of actionable, workable ideas that would solve the problems we currently have? Has Romney or the Newt or Santorum presented anything close to a working plan for how we get out of this mess? (crickets...........)
That's what I thought. The Republicans are contemptuous of anything that would help anyone below the top 1% no matter the proposed solution might be. Why is that? Greed, venality, the habits of the inane and the wealthy. The indifference these people show to the suffering of millions around them (US citizens, neighbors in some cases) is frightening.
What is nearly as bad is that they are willing to sacrifice just about anything on the altar of greed. Just don't take their money ("...it's a hit..."). Thus our infrastructure crumbles, our stature in the world economy and the world political stage erodes, and gridlock ensures that not much will change for the better. We don't just look like a third world nation. We are there! (perhaps we should create a new category such as a fourth world nation for a post-modern developed nation that sabotages it's future)
The democrats are a little more of a mystery ,since a lot of them are actually republicans that can not get elected as republicans so they proclaim to be democrats so they can get elected and then vote republican on every bill. This is testimony to the ignorant response of the USA voter that believes every lie they hear and make no effort to learn the truth.
Support OWS with actions and money ,it is the best chance you have of correcting the ship of state.
Vote democrat for presendent and congress / senate and lets stop killing seniors , children , poor and soldiers.
his IRA is valued at tens/hundreds of millions, by initially putting shares of stock = $0, what's the tax on that?...
Romney recorded a capital gains loss for 2009 as a carryover on 2010, what's the tax on that?
It's quite possible Romney paid no taxes in 2008 and 2009...much less "double-taxation"...
In contrast, Vice President Biden paid about $300 in charitable contributions last year. Oh those big hearted Democrats! So full of compassion for those less fortunate than themselves.
Show me! Problem is that you can't!
How do you know? His IRA is full of investments originally valued at $0....now worth $20-100M....
Go ahead show me that Romney paid "the full rate once"...stop assuming and do some research....