By Romney’s Own Standard, His Tax Returns Would Disqualify Him From The Presidency

[cal04]

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/09/21/890451/by-romneys-own-standard-his-tax-returns-would-disqualify-him-from-the-presidency/

(snip)
Romney has previously defended his low tax rate — which, at 14.1% is significantly less than many middle class families pay — by saying he is simply being pragmatic in meeting his legal requirements:

I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president. I’d think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires.

If Romney had taken all of the deductions available to him under the tax code, he would have paid closer to a 9 percent tax rate in 2011. In attempting to match up his tax rate with his prior statement, Romney is paying more in taxes — and by his very own standard — disqualifying himself from the presidency. It’s worth noting that under Romney’s tax plan, he would cut his own rates even further, and would have paid little to no taxes under Paul Ryan’s 2010 budget, which would have eliminated the capital gains tax.

Update: The New York Times notes: “It is possible, however, that Mr. Rommey could still deduct the unclaimed amount of his charitable donations in future tax years, experts said.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/romney-to-release-2011-tax-returns/?hp

Romney disclosing his 2011 tax returns at 3pm Eastern; admits not qualified to be president
http://www.americablog.com/2012/09/romney-disclosing-his-2011-tax-returns.html

Mind you, this raises his tax disclosure to a grand whopping total of two returns.

(snip)
The highlights: Romney's tax rate was 14.1%. He only got that "high" a rate after jiggering the numbers for the past 9 months. The Romney campaign admits that Romney jiggered his 2011 taxes in order to make them look better for the election:

The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.

So basically, Romney got the financial equivalent of a fake tan. And even then, his tax rate was an absurdly low 14.1%.