The policy implications of Mitt Romney’s 13 percent
Tax accountant Mitt Romney, having given investor Mitt Romney’s tax returns a thorough and independent review, reported Thursday that presidential candidate Mitt Romney had paid a minimum of 13 percent of his income in federal taxes every year for the past decade.
So that settles that, I guess.
Actually, I’m willing to take Romney’s word on this specific point. He should still release additional tax returns, and it’s quite clear that there’s something in those returns that in Romney’s mind would not pass muster with the voters. There is no other plausible explanation for why he has refused to follow the precedent set by every other major candidate in the modern era.
However, on the matter of whether Romney paid taxes, and how much he paid, I’m willing to trust his word. For one thing, the backlash should it prove to have been a lie would devastate his campaign. (And yes, accepting Romney’s word means that Harry Reid has either been badly misled by his secret informer or that the Senate majority leader is himself lying.)
In revealing the minimum level of taxes that he has paid, Romney also questioned why so much attention continues to be focused on the matter:
“I just have to say, given the challenges that America faces — 23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty — the fascination with taxes I’ve paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues that we face.”
On that point, Romney’s answer is much too coy.
Romney is very wealthy. Tax rates on the wealthy is one of the more heated policy questions in this campaign season. So voters are naturally curious about what effect current tax policy has had on his financial situation, and what effect proposed changes would have.
As we know, the Republican position has long been that taxes on the wealthy and on corporations are punitively high, and that reducing them would help create jobs and new investment. President Bush, for example, used that argument in successfully pushing major tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, yet finished his eight-year presidency with fewer private non-farm payroll jobs than when he began.
Despite that history, both Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, continue to push the story line that America’s wealthy are being used and abused by the ungrateful masses, and continue to present tax plans that would further favor wealthier Americans. For example, the budget proposed by Ryan in 2010 and passed with overwhelming GOP support in the House would have cut Romney’s effective tax rate to 0.82 percent in 2010, the only year for which Romney has released his returns.
Even without that change, however, Romney’s effective tax rate of roughly 13 percent for at least two in the last 10 years suggests that the picture of an overtaxed upper class is simply wrong. Millions and millions of less-affluent Americans pay Uncle Sam a lot bigger share of their income than did Romney, and they have every reason to wonder why that might be.
– Jay Bookman
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498 comments Add your comment
Morality?
August 17th, 2012
2:45 pm
Mao and Obama are cousins fathered in Kenya. Similar political views are to be expected.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
2:45 pm
at least getalife sees
Birthers = Taxers
Romney and the two-soprano rule « The Reality-Based Community
August 17th, 2012
2:46 pm
[...] heckling, and will continue to do so through November. (And Romney hasn’t helped himself by keeping the issue alive; if he’s standing mute, he should stand [...]
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
2:46 pm
I BTW look at actual dollars and not percent.
why? That just seems bizarre, as if the concept of proportionality didn’t matter in these discussions.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:47 pm
cat,
Prove iters?
Thomas
August 17th, 2012
2:48 pm
Why should people who make money by owning resources be taxed less than people who make money by working?
Paul- simple math. Capital gains are 50% of ordinary income tax rates because corporations can only take losses to the extent of capital gains and individuals are limited to $3k a year.
Easy fix is to make capital gains = ordinary and fully allow capital losses.
Currently heads the gov’t wins tails the risk investor losses
Don Abernethy
August 17th, 2012
2:48 pm
Who would you want personally to handle your finances Romney or Obama? If your answer is Obama you are dumber than dumb.
larry
August 17th, 2012
2:48 pm
This case is not
He who casts the first stone must be without sin,
it is
Anyone who wants to see Romney’s 10-year tax returns must be showing his 20-year tax returns first.
Jay
August 17th, 2012
2:48 pm
Can you refute Klein’s report of a recent meeting in which the VP position was discussed? THAT is what I was asking from you.
No, I cannot, Crier, because I was not in attendance. Neither was Klein.
In some of his previous work, however, Klein has suggested that Hillary is a lesbian and that daughter Chelsea was conceived via rape, and that he got the story indirectly from Bill. I cannot disprove that either, because I wasn’t there.
Klein has also suggested that Obama is foreign born and a practicing Muslim, and since I cannot look into Obama’s soul, I cannot disprove that either.
I will note, however, that conservative John Podhoretz, commenting on Klein’s book on Hillary, wrote:
“This is one of the most sordid volumes I’ve ever waded through. Thirty pages into it, I wanted to take a shower. Sixty pages into it, I wanted to be decontaminated. And 200 pages into it, I wanted someone to drive stakes through my eyes so I wouldn’t have to suffer through another word.”
Byron York of National Review says that book “was denounced as a whole pack of lies by everybody involved.” Peggy Noonan said it was “poorly written, poorly thought, poorly sourced and full of the kind of loaded language that is appropriate to a polemic but not an investigative work.”
And the Weekly Standard — the CONSERVATIVE Weekly Standard, edited by Bill Kristol — describes his work thusly:
“Klein is best known as a Kennedy-watcher, author of such panting chronicles as All Too Human: The Love Story of Jack and Jackie Kennedy and Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days; among the many info-bits he has tossed onto the sprawling slagheap of Kennedy lore is the news that Jackie lost her virginity in an elevator (the elevator was in Paris, where else). More recently Klein has honed his hatchet with books on Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric. Now The Amateur proves that he has mastered the techniques of such anti-Obama pioneers as Dinesh (The Roots of Obama’s Rage) D’Souza and David (The Great Destroyer) Limbaugh. He knows how to swing the sledgehammer prose, combine a leap of logic with a baseless inference, pad the paragraphs with secondary material plucked from magazine articles you’ve already read, and render the most mundane details in the most scandalized tones. ”
As we know, those are all close friends and allies of the Clintons who would do or say anything to protect them. Right?
Now, if you choose to believe that a writer of that sort still has secret sources inside the Clinton camp that no one else has, telling him wacky illogical stories that no one has heard, and if you choose to put your own credibility on the line by spreading the garbage that he spreads, you should of course feel free to do so.
Myself, I think that’s a bad idea.
TaxPayer
August 17th, 2012
2:48 pm
I know. Everyone should just pay a flat dollar amount in taxes.
How about $5. Make it $10. 
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:49 pm
don,
I think those that will vote to raise taxes on the middle class 2000 per year is self defeatism.
They BOTH suck
August 17th, 2012
2:50 pm
Towncrier
Looks like you can put Klein’s writings right up there next to your Dr Seuss collection……………
Joe Hussein Mama
August 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Moe Rality — “Mao and Obama are cousins fathered in Kenya. Similar political views are to be expected.”
Add Jesus into that group. Triplets!
TaxPayer
August 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Birthers=Deniers
Moderate Lin
August 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Jay
August 17th, 2012
1:12 pm
Moderate, Schulz-Wasserman alleged they had all released 12 years of returns, which is what was ruled false.
McCain released just two years, but he had been releasing financial info as a U.S. senator for many years prior to that.
+++
You need to read the whole thing Jay. Reagan only release one. Your comment is false. Unless you want to argue that Reagan is not a modern candidate.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Thomas – define what you are calling capital gains please
Paul
August 17th, 2012
2:51 pm
Erwin’s cat
“We can argue tax code all day long..it has nothing to do with Mitt’s (or any other rich mofo) morality”
I don’t believe I ever said it was an issue of a person’s morality. In fact, I’ve said quite clearly if they are following the law in their calculations that is fine.
“I BTW look at actual dollars and not percent. It’s laughable that an individual who paid $6M in taxes is demonized as not paying enough by those that pay a few thousand”
That’s the danger of using raw numbers rather than putting it into a basis of comparison, as a percent does.
For instance, saying one country has 40,000 traffic deaths a year while another country has 10,000 traffic deaths a year gives the impression there’s a lot more risk in one than the other. But putting the number as a rate or percent of miles traveled shows something else.
In taxes paid, it gets back to the idea of marginal utility. After paying basic living expenses, every additional dollar retained has far more impact (utility) on a person making $30,000 a year than it does on a person making $30,000,000 a year. It’s a fundamental principle behind our progressive tax system.
If all you look at are raw numbers, are you proposing that all households pay the same dollar amount?
Welcome to the Occupation
August 17th, 2012
2:52 pm
Scout: Conservatism/Capitalism seeks to give everyone equal opportunity and to bring people up to the best level of prosperity obtainable.
Capitalism does no such thing. Capitalism tells the masses to view the abstract freedom, or “political” freedom offered in liberal democracy, as equivalent to freedom in the economic marketplace, which of course it’s anything but.
Conservativism has not always been in league with capitalism, by the way.
No system in the history of the world has done better.
Better at what exactly? Providing mass prosperity.
That’s misleading too. If we look at the world today, with its vast megalopolises that are largely gigantic slums, humongous zones of desperation, war, and poverty, I think we can quickly disprove the idea that capitalism automatically brings widespread prosperity to the peoples of the globe, despite the fact that it clearly has lifted the general level of well being in important ways.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:52 pm
Looks like crier would believe anything like a good little con.
Chris Sanchez
August 17th, 2012
2:53 pm
Why should Gov. Romney release more tax returns? What purpose does it serve other than to prove that he is wealthy? Near as I can tell, he EARNED his money the old fashioned way, by working . Talking about Romney’s tax returns is more important if you happen to have the record of governing this country so ineffectively as Obama does. Were I in his position, I wouldn’t want to talk about my own job performance either!
Joe Hussein Mama
August 17th, 2012
2:53 pm
D. Abernethy — “Who would you want personally to handle your finances Romney or Obama? If your answer is Obama you are dumber than dumb.”
Hell to the NAW.
Romney would just say “trust me” and not show you any paperwork.
Mike
August 17th, 2012
2:53 pm
I am sick of all this talk about Romney’s taxes. How about all the lies that Obama andhis henchmen have laid on us for the last 3+years. Why don’t jay and is clones ask him about those, ie healthcare, etc. Why don’t you get on every lame excuse Obozo makes? When is anything his fault? I’m more interested in unemployment medicare reform, changes that are needed in ealing with the illegal alien issue (note that I didn’t cll them undocuented workers.) These are issues Odumbo can’t or won’t discuss because he’s done nothing except dodge these issues like he did in Conress when he voted Present. What a liar, charlatan and socialist scum he is!
F. Sinkwich
August 17th, 2012
2:54 pm
“Now what steps do Republicans propose to achieve the goal of economic growth?”
Thanks for asking.
Step 1: Send that euro-socialistic Marxist Obozo back to Chicago ASAP.
Step 2: Repeal Obamacare, Dodd/Frank. Rescind all federal regulations issued since 2009. Require all new regulations costing the economy more than $1 million be approved by a two-thirds majority in congress.
Step 3: Make Bush tax cuts permanent. Begin work on a flatter, simpler, broader tax code.
Step 4: Downsize the federal government through attrition and elimination of useless and destructive agencies like Education, etc.
Step 5: Enjoy resulting prosperity.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:55 pm
mike,
It is about willie robme’s taxes .
Focus con.
Paul
August 17th, 2012
2:55 pm
Thomas
“Why should people who make money by owning resources be taxed less than people who make money by working?
Paul- simple math. Capital gains are 50% of ordinary income tax rates because corporations can only take losses to the extent of capital gains and individuals are limited to $3k a year.
Easy fix is to make capital gains = ordinary and fully allow capital losses.
Currently heads the gov’t wins tails the risk investor losses”
Thomas
That’s a description of the current system and a proposal to fix a perceived inequity.
Doesn’t address the ‘why.’
But I take it you think they should be treated pretty much the same.
Thanks for the answer. No one else is willing to tell us all why they support the current system.
Joe Hussein Mama
August 17th, 2012
2:55 pm
Step 6: Wake up.
Step 7: Suffer through hangover.
Jay
August 17th, 2012
2:56 pm
How about 5 cents, Taxpayer. In honor of Peanuts, everything is 5 cents.
and Hack:
Jay, what do you think of my idea of eliminating all deductions except for the personal deduction for everyone….won’t that solve most of what bothers some about the tax code?
Would you also tax capital gains and dividends and interest at the same rate as earned income? That’s the biggest tax break that the wealthy get. If you won’t, then you are in effect eliminating only those deductions that help the middle and lower classes, while preserving those breaks for the upper end.
F. Sinkwich
August 17th, 2012
2:56 pm
Note: My prescription for economic growth may not be shared by all in the republican party, but it should be.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
2:56 pm
(And yes, accepting Romney’s word means that Harry Reid has either been badly misled by his secret informer or that the Senate majority leader is himself lying.)
Um. Shouldn’t that be Harry Reid’s “pretend, imaginary secret informer”?
Paul
August 17th, 2012
2:57 pm
Don Abernethy
“Who would you want personally to handle your finances Romney or Obama? If your answer is Obama you are dumber than dumb.”
Ummmm… really?
Romney doesn’t handle his own finances. He pays lots of other people to handle his finances……
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
2:57 pm
Stands for dB – why? That just seems bizarre, as if the concept of proportionality didn’t matter in these discussions.
apparently not when viewing the lower 45%…where’s your concept of proportionality then?
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:57 pm
Yeah filky,
The gop listens to you.
Fat out hilarious.
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
2:57 pm
Step 8: ???
Step 9: Profit!
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:58 pm
Flat.
Opps.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
2:58 pm
And one more thing libs.
Respect Lord Saban!!!
Do it NOW!!!!!
Jay
August 17th, 2012
2:58 pm
“Um. Shouldn’t that be Harry Reid’s “pretend, imaginary secret informer”?
Thulsa, that possibility is covered in the second part of sentence you quoted.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
2:58 pm
doomy,
Cheaters.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 17th, 2012
2:59 pm
Step 8: Check with this Frank Sinkus’s gas station attendant to see which stocks are hot and then retire rich in a few months.
They BOTH suck
August 17th, 2012
2:59 pm
Mike
Someone make you read Jay’s column against your will. Seems you have time to type. I would use that time to call the authorities and escape your captors
Obama is over
August 17th, 2012
2:59 pm
Getalife is right about election reform. Obama should give back the money raised from Mack Wilbourn’s fund raisers here in Atlanta since the FBI just proved that he won airport concession contracts under false pretenses. He won under the disadvantaged minority business program. Even though he didn’t qualify, regulators looked the other way. Just like Jon Corzine, I guess if you are stroking checks to the big O, then the rules of “fairness” are more fair for you than the rest of America.
Jay
August 17th, 2012
3:00 pm
Reagan was first elected 32 years ago, Moderate.
TaxPayer
August 17th, 2012
3:00 pm
What would a flat tax need to be to cover the basics?
Let’s see, I think we had about 140 million returns filed so we need to divide up the cost of running our government equally amongst them. Starting with the 2010 DoD outlay of 705 billion, that works out to about $5k per person. Now, what to do about those 11 million that earned less than $5k that year. How about pauper’s prison and let them sit there until they can pay to get out. Now what do we do with the rest of that budget. I think those with an ability to continue to contribute will drop off rather dramatically with each line item and who will be left to pay–the wealthiest. That sounds too progressive.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:00 pm
The honey badger is in rehab.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:01 pm
odrama,
No, he is playing the game.
Don’t like it?
Change the game.
Jay
August 17th, 2012
3:02 pm
And I’ll note that when Reagan did release his ‘79 tax release, it showed that he paid $230,886 in taxes on an income of $515,878.
A far cry from 13 percent.
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
3:03 pm
apparently not when viewing the lower 45%…where’s your concept of proportionality then?
I’ve advocated (as has Jay) returning to the Clinton era tax rates, which would have a lot of those folks paying higher taxes.
Joseph
August 17th, 2012
3:05 pm
Grasping for straws and ignoring Obama’s failed policies… That’s just what you left wing kooks do Bookman…
Paul
August 17th, 2012
3:08 pm
” when Reagan did release his ‘79 tax release, it showed that he paid $230,886 in taxes on an income of $515,878.”
I don’t think we’re going to hear that from Hannity or any speakers at the Republican Convention about how they want to return to Reagan -
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:10 pm
“No, I cannot, Crier, because I was not in attendance. Neither was Klein.”
I don’t know much about Klein but from what you have shared, he appears to be a hack journalist. Thanks for the information. Your preceding response did not address my question but this last one did. I think it may be unlikely that the Obama camp approached Hillary. But it would hardly surprise me, since I thought even back in 2008 that Biden was a mystifying pick for a running mate – he simply is not very impressive in my opinion. Indeed, he can be sometimes very embarrassing.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
3:11 pm
Paul & Stands for dB
well then, if we want to look at percentages, lets look at which group pays the highest percent of the total tax bill… since we are talking about the concept of proportionality
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:12 pm
How many times did reagan raise taxes?
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:13 pm
“Looks like you can put Klein’s writings right up there next to your Dr Seuss collection…”
I have neither, but wish I still had the latter.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
3:13 pm
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:00 pm
The honey badger is in rehab.
Getalife,
The first and most important step in Honey Badger’s rehab is to Respect Lord Saban.
Paul
August 17th, 2012
3:14 pm
Erwin’s cat
Sure. Except it’s not a single-factor analysis. The system is a progressive tax system, remember?
So the top brackets should, in fact, have a much, much, much higher percentage than the mid and lower.
Else it would be regressive – having a greater negative impact on the lower tier than the upper tier.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:15 pm
doomy,
That admitted cheater probably tried to get him .
RB from Gwinnett
August 17th, 2012
3:15 pm
7 pages of 0% whining about 13%.
Let’s go to 5% and 18%. Anybody on board?
Doggone/GA
August 17th, 2012
3:16 pm
“well then, if we want to look at percentages, lets look at which group pays the highest percent of the total tax bill… since we are talking about the concept of proportionality”
But if you’re going to do that you ALSO have to factor in the percentage of the nations wealthy they control
Doggone/GA
August 17th, 2012
3:16 pm
oops! “wealth” not wealthy
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:17 pm
I think Bama self reporting cheating is like robme self reporting offshore tax cheating amnesty..
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
August 17th, 2012
3:17 pm
when Reagan did release his ‘79 tax release, it showed that he paid $230,886 in taxes on an income of $515,878.
Let’s see now . . . 515 into 231 . . . carry the naught—Holy Cr@p! That’s close to 50%!
On second thought, let’s not bring up Reagan. No use in giving people the wrong idea.
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
3:18 pm
well then, if we want to look at percentages, lets look at which group pays the highest percent of the total tax bill… since we are talking about the concept of proportionality
We could, but then I’d just point to how wealth has been concentrated among that same group over the years, and that it only makes sense to tax them at a higher rate in order to shift the balance and maintain better social stability, and you’d call me a social engineer, and I’d say “what’s wrong with that?” and then you’d…
well, it goes in circles, I guess.
But seriously, I don’t remember EVER hearing about “which group pays the highest percent of the total tax bill… ” until very recently. Seems a strange thing to fret about.
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:19 pm
“I think Bama self reporting cheating is like robme self reporting offshore tax cheating amnesty.”
You sound like Charlie Brown’s teacher to me now.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
3:19 pm
getalife,
Lord Saban had honey badger come to several Alabama camps and was considering offering him a scholarship but declined. He wouldn’t start at Bama. Too short and just not good enough for Bama. Lord Saban said so.
Fred ™
August 17th, 2012
3:20 pm
I have neither, but wish I still had the latter.
Nice lol. :thumb:
Paul
August 17th, 2012
3:20 pm
offline for a while.
RC – get back to work! Lug some more beer! Weird music-swapping time is almost upon us!
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
3:21 pm
wish I still had the latter.
I could probably sell you a few.
JamVet
August 17th, 2012
3:21 pm
There is no other plausible explanation for why he has refused to follow the precedent set by every other major candidate in the modern era.
Except, of course, that they all had functioning scrotums and spines.
Mitt does not…
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:22 pm
doomy,
The local news showed him meeting the fans and he looked high.
I don’t think he is comfortable in the spotlight and could not deal with the pressure.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
3:22 pm
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:17 pm
I think Bama self reporting cheating is like robme self reporting offshore tax cheating amnesty..
getalife,
Get a grip sir. Every athletics program in the nation routinely self reports on average between 15 and 30 secondary violations every year. Secondary violations are usually small, accidental, and unintentional violations. Of Bama’s 27 only 4 were related to the football program. Ohio State reported 46 last year and as I said its routine.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:24 pm
crier,
You might want to google the IRS’s offshore tax amnesty and Bama’s recent violations to get informed.
Thulsa Doom
August 17th, 2012
3:25 pm
“I don’t think he is comfortable in the spotlight and could not deal with the pressure.”
getalife,
Naw. I think what it is is that the Bama game is only about 80 days away or so and once it got under 90 days the Honey badger was filled with dread and fear at the prospect of getting abused again at the hand of Lord Saban as the game inched ever closer. That fear and trepidation drove him to abuse drugs.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:25 pm
doomy,
How many did LSU report?
Newby
August 17th, 2012
3:27 pm
Just to confues the issue:
The top 20% own 84% of the stuff, and pay 60% of the taxes.
The other 80% own 16% of the stuff, and pay 40% of the taxes.
Oscar
August 17th, 2012
3:27 pm
Sorry, but can’t wait for the official signal.
It’s Friday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54XRNQ2C2×0&feature=related
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:28 pm
I asked this earlier, but the link wound up being “moderated”: can anyone cite something as outlandish being said by a Fox New analyst than what MSNBC’s Touré said about Romney engaging in the ‘n****rization’ of Obama? With all the complaints about the FNC, I just wanted to know.
HRPufnstuf
August 17th, 2012
3:28 pm
If Obama had kept his tax returns secret before the 2008 election, the tea party, talk radio,Fox news and the rest would have been screeching to high heaven. So don’t give me this bs about Mitt having more pressing issues to talk about instead of taxes. The longer he refuses to release his returns, the more suspicious people will become. I guess there really is something in those returns that would sink his campaign.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
3:28 pm
Paul,
While I agree the tax code needs an entire overhaul, I strongly disagree about the “much, much, much” part
GT
August 17th, 2012
3:29 pm
College records, when did that enter a list of things we need, to know what a president, especially one in office and a known commodity, can or cannot do? When I see these desperate stabs at got ya by the right I really am beginning to believe O is going to win this thing bigger that I first thought.
Taxes gives you a very good present day look at what you are. If we don’t need any of this disclosure lets take it off the books, but I don’t think that is how we elect a president. Romney wants very hard to be elected with us knowing absolutely as little about him as possible. It has been a theme ever since he was in the primaries. Getting in office and finding out these things that always come up is a little late.
Steve-USA "None of the Above"
August 17th, 2012
3:29 pm
BlahBlahBlah@1:02 “Even at 13% he paid more in real dollars than every poster here combined.”
The %er’s will never figure that out. I wouldn’t doubt he made more charitable contributions than every poster here combined as well.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:29 pm
crier,
fox is the gop’s campaign headquarters where talking points are born.
Hope that helps.
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:30 pm
“You might want to google the IRS’s offshore tax amnesty and Bama’s recent violations to get informed.”
String together a cogent argument, getalife – you know more than a sentence or two – and I might give you a listen.
moonbat betty
August 17th, 2012
3:31 pm
“The longer he refuses to release his returns, the more suspicious people will become. I guess there really is something in those returns that would sink his campaign.”
queue the howlers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdnwLX5m3G8
Punked.
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:32 pm
“…fox is the gop’s campaign headquarters where talking points are born.”
Once again, please just answer the question inartful dodger.
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
3:33 pm
I wouldn’t doubt he made more charitable contributions than every poster here combined as well.
He’s required to as a member of the LDS. I’m not saying that’s good, bad or indifferent; it simply is what it is.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:33 pm
HR,
Yes the cons would be screaming if our President his his taxes and said “trust me” but it is what it is.
cons don’t care if willie robme promised to seize their assets.
They would still vote gop.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:34 pm
hid.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
3:34 pm
First I say…he paid a lot of money…and I get
the concept of proportionality…so I apply that to the total tax bill…and I get
well you just can’t look at those percentages you need to consider other variables…so is this
a straw man
a rabbit hole …or
a goal posts move
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:35 pm
crier,
Nah, I will mindlessly deflect blame and attack the gop.
The karma rule.
Fred ™
August 17th, 2012
3:35 pm
Moonbat @ 3:31: Is that the first entry for FNM lol?
I PAID 30 Myth Robme PAID 13 Hmmmmmm
August 17th, 2012
3:36 pm
The Republican position has long been that taxes on the wealthy and on corporations are punitively high.
Moderate Lin
August 17th, 2012
3:36 pm
Jay
August 17th, 2012
3:00 pm
Reagan was first elected 32 years ago, Moderate.
+++++
Reagan is not a modern President.
Google the words “Modern Presidents”
Below is a photograph of Modern Presidents. Who is that in the picture Reagan, Ford, Carter and Nixon.
I think you would be hard pressed to find any source that would not consider Reagan a modern president.
Nice rationalization.
http://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt
http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka/modern_presidents/index.htm
http://cstl-cla.semo.edu/renka/modern_presidents/photographic_gallery.htm
How does that make your statement true? McCain release only two but that was 4 years ago so I guess that doesn’t count either. The statement is false. When you say modern era that implies a certain time period. Here is a link implying the modern era of the United States to be from 1946 to present. Another link 1914 to present is modern America.
I guess the modern era began in 1988.
My guess is you are just repeating what you have read.
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/modern/jb_modern_subj.html
http://www.uncp.edu/home/canada/work/allam/1914-/index.htm
Thomas
August 17th, 2012
3:36 pm
For more than a decade Emory University intentionally misreported data about its students to groups that rank colleges, President Jim Wagner said Friday
As bad as the City of Atlanta School System
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:37 pm
cat,
First, prove it.
Second, prove it………
moonbat betty
August 17th, 2012
3:37 pm
Yes, good one, Fred.
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:38 pm
moonbat,
Just show the taxes.
Towncrier
August 17th, 2012
3:38 pm
“College records, when did that enter a list of things we need, to know what a president, especially one in office and a known commodity, can or cannot do?”
I guess you have forgotten that (thanks to the media) we were privy to the college records of Bush, Gore and Kerry and that those records became part of the dialogue in the races? Many liberals were saying that Bush was “stupid” because he was a “C” student, not realizing that Gore and Kerry were also “C” students. Academic records are an indication of intelligence, a quality that bears on holding any position. They are now, in my opinion, fair game since they were in earlier elections.
Erwin's cat
August 17th, 2012
3:38 pm
get…prove what?
Birthers = Taxers?
Jay
August 17th, 2012
3:39 pm
Do I hear music wafting through the Interwebs?
getalife
August 17th, 2012
3:40 pm
Thomas,
It is starting to look like cheating is the norm now.
This happens when the blame is deflected and there is no accountability.
stands for decibels (SfBA)
August 17th, 2012
3:40 pm
can anyone cite something as outlandish being said by a Fox New analyst than what MSNBC’s Touré said about Romney engaging in the ‘n****rization’ of Obama?
JMHO, but I think the “terrorist fist jab” business was in a similar position on the Stoopit Scale.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/09/fox-anchor-calls-obama-fi_n_106027.html