I have a theory about Mitt's tax returns and what he's hiding.

[jillan]

I used to work at a large corporation. One of the woman in my office was a Mormon.

This corporation's charity of choice was the United Way. Every year they had a big fund drive for the UW.
One year I was put in charge of collecting donations from the staff in our office. If we got 100% participation we would get pizza or some other form of bribery.

Everyone was willing to donate at least $1 or two - except this one Mormon woman.
She flat out told me that the only place that she will donate to is her church - even knowing that everyone else in our staff of 20 had donated - she wouldn't budge. It was the Mormon church and nothing else. Good for her, she stood up to what she believed in, inspite of pissing off all of her co-workers. Inspite of helping someone in need that wasn't a member of her church.

So this is my theory of what I think Mitt is hiding.
I think his tax returns will show that he paid more to the Mormon Church than he did in taxes - by quite alot.
I *believe* that Mormons are supposed to donate 10% of their earnings to the church - and with Mitt's megamillions, he probably invested a whole lot more in Mormons than the pittance he re-invested in America.

[Kristina A]

1. I think that's an excellent point ...

I haven't posted much on DU, but I certainly think you're possibly onto something. Perhaps part of the reason he isn't releasing his information is due to his ties to the Mormon Church. Exposing any corruption within the church would not only be damaging to his failing campaign, but just as damaging to the church.

[sadbear]

2. A definite possibility.

[malaise]

3. Possible but what if said church folks formed one of the shell companies

that donated early and big and then disappeared. In other words, since he's so big in the church could he have been hiding money in 'charity'.

[cbdo2007]

4. this isn't a very big deal to most people. Offshore and swiss accounts are much more likely

to cause voters to run the other way.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

5. I guess it could be

But most people aren't going to be upset with someone for donating huge sums of money to charity.

[sadbear]

7. The Mormon church isn't a charity.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

10. Then there would be no reason for it to show up on his tax returns

Are you seriously saying that donations to the Mormon church don't count as contributions to charity?

I'd like to see some proof of that.

[Marcia Brady]

11. What do you mean?

Not sure what you're saying. Is LDS treated differently (for tax purposes) than, say, a Presbyterian church, or a Lutheran church?

[Whisp]

17. good point. do you get a tax cut for donatng to any church?

say, RC...

I would think not....
but who knows.
someone has to pay for all those robes and rings.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

21. Yes, you do

So long as the church is a tax exempt entity, you can deduct all donations. The money I give to church every week comes off my taxes as a charitable deduction.

[Whisp]

23. maybe Rmoney is afraid of the Mormon church finding out

that he has not been donating the required 10%.

ha.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

24. Could be n/t

[KurtNYC]

6. That is a possibility but it can't be what the Obama team is driving toward

It comes across as attacking someone else's religion.

If it turns out that Romney pays no taxes in the U.S. that will be plenty of fodder. Throwing the Mormon thing in is distracting and is un-needed.

[XemaSab]

8. I'm elbows-deep in the oppo file

Maybe what he's hiding is the fact that he donated to lot of liberal causes, like the $150 check to planned parenthood.

[banned from Kos]

9. In 2010 (Romney's only released tax return) he paid the LDS $1.5 million

about the same he paid in taxes.

[Marr]

12. I think he's hiding the simple fact that he's paid amost NO taxes.

Kind of hard to go into a tax policy debate arguing for lower taxes on billionaires and more taxes for working people when you already have cash coming out of your ears and haven't paid taxes in years. Imagine trying to use that line about "half the country" paying no taxes after such a revelation.

[Lint Head]

13. I think you have hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head.

[hollysmom]

14. Nope, I never gave to United Way, Wasted too much money on parties.

It is just a third party between charities that wastes money on high salaries. I like to give money to charities that I have checked out for financial responsibility.

Worked for a company where the president wanted 100% participation, the pressure was pretty bad, I was kept in a room and "reasoned with" for several hours. After they collected their money, they gave a big party to the volunteers with alcohol and food.

I collect money for a charity and I give a gift to my helpers out of my own pocket every year, as do the other organizers. Very little money is spent on fund raising.

[HopeHoops]

15. Definitely a possibility.

[lady lib]

16. You're right, it is 10%.

I think there's still some debate among Mormons as to whether that's 10% of the gross or net, with the purists donating 10% of their gross annual income. One of his concerns might be that his fellow Mormons might realize that not only was he avoiding paying US taxes, but perhaps he was tithing too little. Just a guess...

[DefenseLawyer]

18. My guess is he probably paid little or no taxes one of those years

Loopholed his way down to zero. Mark it zero, Dude. It's a league game.

[JoePhilly]

19. The company my wife works for has a heavy Mormon influence.

The Mormon men are a protected class. She manages technology projects and for the past 5 years, when a project is in trouble, they give it to her to fix. Once its running smoothly, they give it to a Mormon guy, and they give her some other failing project.

The Mormon guys all all one or two levels above her. She's found that most of them do nothing. They rely on their staff to do everything. And as a result, they never know what things are failing.

My wife figures they'll make her fix the big issues, until she quits, and then hire a new sucker to do the work that the Mormon guys won't do.

[madinmaryland]

20. Good for her! I always hated working for companies and having to deal with the nasty strong armed

tactics of United Way and the Corporation. Getting called in to your bosses office because you have not donated to United Way. Fuck them. I'll choose who I want to donate to, and it will not be the corporate owned UW.

[Liberal_in_LA]

22. This theory was mentioned on the news shows as a possibility - Romney's father donated 19% to the

church.

Analysts said Romney might fear being judged for donating more to church than paid in taxes.