Romney tax returns: I like how he averaged 20 years......why not 10?

[tableturner]

I really love this. What a load full of obfuscation! To me this further indicates that he is afraid of what it would have looked like if only the last ten years were averaged. This is the element to this tax return release that he is using to shield himself.

Of course we are supposed to trust him. Not! Maddow already exposed how he lied to the authorities in Massachusetts when he was trying to qualify to run for governor. Those lies in Massachusetts need to be further exposed because most of the press has ignored them, and most people have no idea that he lied about his taxes during that time in Massachusetts.

[CJCRANE]

1. Good point. Arithmetic. nt

[polichick]

2. I agree - makes it look even more like he's hiding something...

They were desperate to change the subject but may have just made things worse.

[malaise]

3. He has delivered summaries from 1999

along with the 2011 returns.

[Spazito]

4. Exactly!

They had to include TWENTY years to make it average out in an 'acceptable' number. That, to me, says there is some pretty telling numbers in the 2000 - 2009 years (I'm betting the amnesty plays into those numbers big time) they needed to try and hide by using twenty years.

This "20 year summary" just highlights the tax return issue, it does NOT answer it in any way, imo.

[BlueStreak]

6. Exactly. Harry Reid was correct, but it requres some explanation

For the last 10 years, Romney paid virtually no ordinary federal income tax, but he did pay capital gains (i.e. the special billionaire's tax rate) for the money he couldn't successfully shelter offshore.

Some people will make the argument that capital gains is in fact "Federal income tax", but it isn't income tax in the sense that the average American understands income tax. It is a special billionaire's rate. Harry needs to break this down a little better, such as,

"Yeah, we understand that Governor Romney paid some capital gains tax, using loopholes that allow him to claim that special tax treatment. But did he pay any ORDINARY FEDERAL INCOME TAX? I don't think so. Yet he has the nerve to insult 47% of the country, most of whom paid a higher percentage of their income in taxes than Romney did. It is time to stop stonewalling and release those tax returns."

[BlueStreak]

5. Because during the last 10 years it was all cap gains i.e all 15%

Maybe in the 1990s he had some income that he couldn't launder so easily to be treated as cap gains. He went nuts creating offshore corporations in the late 1990s and early 2000s and that was primarily motivated to a) avoid taxation altogether for his investors, and b) launder his income as cap gains or shelter it altogether.

Also, remember that before the Bush tax cuts, the cap gains rate was 20%, not 15%.

And the key point is all of this is that the reported earnings may be only a small fraction of his real income, because the main goal was to shelter huge amounts from taxation altogether. That sheltered money doesn't show up on his tax calculations at all.