General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMitt appears to have paid far LESS in taxes in 2009.
Is that because he earned far less, or did he have a similar income but paid at a much lower rate?
Two years of tax releases is not enough.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/inside-the-romney-tax-returns/?hp
While he did not release his 2009 tax returns, there is a hint of much Mr. Romney and his wife paid in taxes that year.
The 2010 return shows the Romney's made estimated tax payments that year of $1,369,095. (He then paid a lot more when he sought an extension of the April 15 filing deadline.)
To avoid penalties, estimated tax payments must be at least 110 percent of the taxes owed the prior year. Assuming that is what he paid, his tax bill for 2009 would have been $1,244,632.
There is no easy way to estimate his reported income from that figure. The 2009 income presumably included large amounts of dividends, taxed at a 15 percent rate, and of interest income, taxed at full marginal rates. And of course we have no way of knowing how large other deductions, such as for charitable contributions, were in that year.
unblock
(52,196 posts)drip, drip, drip!
save some for laters!
ehh, whaddamisayin? this guy's the gift that keeps on giving -- without even paying gift tax!
Bok_Tukalo
(4,322 posts)Probably was even less in 2008.
pnwmom
(108,976 posts)I wouldn't assume anything about Mitt's finances. We need to see more returns.
Bok_Tukalo
(4,322 posts)Just not as much as 2010 and 2011.
I'm not even going to get into the weeds with regards to carried losses from 2008.
onenote
(42,693 posts)which suggests that his net income for 2009 probably was significantly less than in 2010 or 2011. That doesn't mean that he didn't make a lot of money in 2009 or that he shouldn't be pressured to release additional returns. It just means that as between his making the same amount of money (net) and paying less taxes on it and paying less taxes because he had lower net income, the latter seems more likely.
pnwmom
(108,976 posts)Without more tax returns, we'll never know.