Romney, Taxes, and Games, Oh My!

Let me get this straight. A few months ago, Mitt Romney said that he didn’t believe in paying more taxes than necessary. But he also said that he always pays above 13%. So now that he’s released his 2011 returns, we see that Romney paid at a 14.1% tax rate. However, in order to keep his tax rate above 13%, Romney deferred some charitable gifts, thus artificially raising his tax rate above his 13% threshold. Had he not deferred those gifts, his 2011 tax rate would have been just 9%. Think about that: 9%.

Oh, and when Romney said that he didn’t believe in paying more taxes than necessary, he also remarked that if he did so, he didn’t think he’d be qualified to be President.

Hmm. I think he might have been right.

Oh, and one more quick point on the whole issue of why Romney won’t release older tax returns, in particular the return for 2009. Apparently, in 2009 there was an amnesty for people who had sheltered money in Swiss banks. They were able to repatriate the money at a much lower tax rate (or no tax at all, I’m not exactly certain). You have to wonder just how much money Romney might have sheltered and what sort of tax savings that amnesty gave him. Because, you know, nothing says “Presidential” more than relying on an amnesty to avoid paying taxes on income sheltered in a secret Swiss bank account.

I wonder what part of the irresponsible takers in that 47% keep their income hidden in Swiss bank accounts in order to avoid federal income taxes.