Mitt Romney's Maids' Salary Raises Questions

[RandySF]

WASHINGTON -- For a woman with three houses and sixteen grandkids, Ann Romney doesn't have very much help around the house, according to her 2010 tax return.

IRS forms released Tuesday by Mitt Romney's presidential campaign show that despite reporting income of $21.7 million, the couple paid only $20,603 in taxable wages for household help in 2010. This figure was divided among four women: Rosania Costa ($4,808), Kelli Harrison ($8,667), Susan Moore ($2,238) and Valerie Cravens Anae ($4,890).

According to a number of Boston-based domestic staffing agencies, the salary range for a housekeeper is between $20 and $30 an hour, which adds up to an annual salary of $40,000 to $50,000 based on forty-hour weeks and two weeks of paid vacation a year.

But this number is only for one house, and the Romneys have three houses -- a 2,000 sq. ft. townhouse in Belmont, Mass., a 5,400 sq. ft. lake house on 11 acres in Wolfeboro, N.H., and a beach house in La Jolla, Calif., that is undergoing renovations to double its size.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/mitt-romney-maids-salary-tax-returns-election-2012_n_1228843.html

[FSogol]

1. Does Mitt have slaves?

[TexasTowelie]

3. The No Wages, No Taxes Theory? n/t

[Scurrilous]

19. Unpaid domestic interns?

Mormon missionaries mopping for God?

Little elves that only come out when everyone is sleeping?

[enlightenment]

2. Does their 'staff'

live in? Do the Romney's provide room and board? If not (actually, even if), something very hinky about those figures.

[MineralMan]

4. Shh...don't bring up the household help.

Wouldn't be prudent. He didn't take deductions for the undocumented folks who work at his houses. Mum's the word...wink, wink...nudge, nudge...we'll say no more.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. They are probably paying cash under the table

to undocumented workers at way below minimum wage.

[librechik]

6. Boy I'll say--bogus bogus bogus

and HOW DARE this monster pay the people who clean his toilet so pitiably???

He is WORSE than Louis the 16th, because Mitt surely knows better.

[broiles]

7. Maybe a cleaning company?

The company could provide the workers to clean and the Romneys wouldn't need to report it on the tax forms. I assumes it's the same for the landscaping company he hired.

[mrs_p]

16. that seems possible. nt

[lumberjack_jeff]

8. Maids are tax deductible?

If not, I suspect that the expense is pushed onto his charitable foundation or one of his businesses.

[Thrill]

9. drip drip

.

[nykym]

10. Didn't he hire

undocumented landscapers, although he said he didn't know and fired them on the spot. (remember he likes to fire people). Also the 4 'Maids' could have been for the whole year in which one did not meet their expectations or were undocumented, and again he likes to fire people. Now all we need is one of the maids to come forth claiming Mitt is the father of her child, and that when he found out - yep you guessed it he fired her!

[Motown_Johnny]

12. he hired a company who had illegal workers

I hate to come to the guy's defense but I can't really blame him for that. If you go to a restaurant and the dishwasher is an illegal then you have pretty much done the same thing.


If his domestic help is illegal that is a different matter. He is the employer in that situation and there is no middle man company to blame it on.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Can someone explain why a maid would be listed on someone's tax return?

Is it possible this is just for time spent cleaning an office room, for example?

[nobodyspecial]

13. If you pay household help more than a certain threshold

(would have to look it up), you must pay taxes on them as an employee. This would be a line item on a specific form. I'm sure an accountant can flesh this out, but that's the basics.

[karynnj]

15. There is a schedule that you use for nannies, housekeepers etc

http://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1040sh/ar01.html#d0e168

Years ago, we hired a babysitter to fill the gap between when the kids got out of school until I got home. We never dreamed how much paperwork we created for ourselves.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Under the table payments....

or using an agency instead......

[Motown_Johnny]

17. This does seem to indicate that some law or laws were broken

Either tax laws or labor laws, can't tell from such a small amount of information. Maybe some rich MSM outlet can pay these poor women for their information to see if Mitt either paid them less than minimum wage or didn't pay the withholding on their wages (or both).

[sufrommich]

18. Yeah, I'dsay that's questionable. I'll bet

they hire undocumented workers to save money on wages, after all, how could the Romneys afford to pay all those people a living wage?

[Ilsa]

20. They may have been live-in, but shouldn't the

Value of their room and board be listed as a form of compensation? Would Mittens have to pay FICA on that? Or not?

It's awfully cheap labor. I'd pay more to get loyal employees.