Friday, September 21, 2012

Romney's Tax Returns

Today, Romney's campaign released his full tax returns from 2011 which had earlier been partially released.  Romney had an income of about $13.7 million, and he paid a 14.1% tax rate which equates to about $2 million.  According to this Huffington Post Article, the Romney family's income is 263 times larger than the median income.  The Post noted the complexity of the tax returns, and tried to decipher some of the highlights.

However, Romney donated $4 million to charity, but only claimed $2.5 million to ensure that his tax rate stayed above 13% fulfilling a campaign promise that his tax rate had been above 13% for the last ten years.  Some critics point out that this issue returns the issue of Romney's taxes to forefront in the media, but some point out that by letting out the tax releases now, the issue will blow over by the time the debates are over.

Is Romney's timing in releasing his taxes a good move or a terrible move considering the video from earlier this week?  What's your opinion on Romney's decision to not claim all of his charitable donations?  

2 comments:

George Medan said...

Romney's decision to release his tax returns now, in my opinion is a great move on his part. This should draw the attention away he has been getting for a while now for not releasing them. The fact that he pays 14.1% in taxes which adds up to about 2 million dollars is fair enough on top of the 4 million dollars he donates to charity. I think now the democrats have one less thing to draw attention to on Romney heightening his chances of winning. Now only if those accusing him of not releasing his tax returns would also release theirs...

Unknown said...

I suppose that in releasing Romney's full tax returns now, the whole brouhaha over this issue will simmer down by the time elections roll around. However, this sudden concession to release his taxes also seems like an attempt to divert the media's attention from the viral video that was released earlier this week.
In addition, although I think that every American is aware that both Romney and Obama are financially very well off, seeing the raw numbers of "$13.7 million" and "263 times larger than the median income" definitely does not help Romney's claim that he genuinely understands the average American citizen's problems.