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[Phmcw]

Law are above morality? Well, seems like I'll be reading PTTG's thread.

[palsch]

Romney's tax returns make for fun reading.

EDIT: Blarg.

EDIT EDIT: NYT article with more details.

[Urist Imiknorris]

Romney's tax returns make for fun reading.

Fixed link. Only one http:// needed.

[Glowcat]

Regardless, the emerging picture was of a man of great means who contributes mightily to charity. The documents showed he and his wife contributed $7 million in charity over the two years, much of it going to his Mormon church. That represents more than 15 percent of the Romneys' income for those years.

Well isn't that nice... I'm not sure if his non-Mormon Republican voters will be pleased with him for helping fund the church's anti-gay legislation efforts or angered because of their sectarian fears of Mormonism gaining more clout due to Romney's investment. The latter would be ironic as this is how replacing taxes with charity is supposed to work.

[GlyphGryph]

There is a difference between giving to Charity (a good thing) and giving to "charity", by the legal definition, which can be fairly neutral.

Gates gives a lot of his money to Charity. Romney only seems to give his money to "charity".

[Sheb]

Well, depends how you classify giving to a church I guess.

[GlyphGryph]

Charitable giving is the act of giving money, goods or time to the unfortunate.

Neither of those are things the mormon church, especially, is known for. And they themselves are none of the above.

This "charity" is only that in legal terms - not in practical ones.

Total humanitarian giving by the Mormon church averages only about 40-50 million a year.

[palsch]

It's rare someone seems horrible sitting across from Piers Morgan, but Santorum managed it.

In lighter Santorum news, his new fund-raising effort is called the "Conservatives United Moneybomb."

[Montague]

So, he's rich, donates to charity and he actually pays the taxes he legally owes? I'm not sure he's going to lose too many votes over this revelation, guys.

Maybe I missing the point, but almost all political figures are wealthy, (except former Sen. Russ Feingold, maybe) it's a wealthy man's game to run for office and in America it shows you are at least competant enough at something to make lots of money or at least stay rich if you're born with it.

It's really a matter of opinion if you think he paying enough taxes or not, but if you think he isn't, you probably were not planning on voting for a Republican anyways. I don't think religious institutions should count as charitable organizations for tax purposes either, but you can't really damn him for doing a legal tax return.

[Nadaka]

I don't think anyone IS damning him for doing a legal tax return. Rather that they are damning the idea that that tax return SHOULD be legal.

[Sheb]

He might loose some votes over his funds in the Caymans and accounts in Switzerland. Plus, it's hard relating to the average Republican when you haven't worked in years and make so much money from your retirement deal that 300,000$ a years for lectures is "not much".

[Glowcat]

I don't think anyone IS damning him for doing a legal tax return. Rather that they are damning the idea that that tax return SHOULD be legal.

Since the link was posted nobody was even doing that. Not really. I made an off-hand comment about how Romney's Republican voter appeal might be effected by his choice in charity.

If we wanted to go into why that Romney's usage of tax loopholes could hurt his chances then I'd point to the current economic/employment troubles and say that even the Republican line might not be enough to stop voters from realizing how badly their extremely rich politicians are screwing them. Sure, Romney is one of many, but it's harder to cry foul against taxes on the wealthy when they're paying less of their income in taxes than you are. It all fits into that line of attack Gingrich was playing where he tried to differentiate between corporate socialism and capitalism, only helped by his relatively high taxation rate compared to Romney.

Romney didn't withhold his tax returns until he was being significantly pressed by opponents for no reason.

[Sheb]

The really funny part is that under Newt's tax plans, Romney's tax rates would plummets to near-zero.

Also, any pronostic for Florida? I really hope either Newt or Santorum wins, because I really like watching the primaries and I don't live in the States anyway (My house is open for political asylum seekers). But I guess this makes me a bad person.

[Nadaka]

The really funny part is that under Newt's tax plans, Romney's tax rates would plummets to near-zero.

Also, any pronostic for Florida? I really hope either Newt or Santorum wins, because I really like watching the primaries and I don't live in the States anyway (My house is open for political asylum seekers). But I guess this makes me a bad person.

When is the Florida primary anyway? It is probably to late for me to reregister as republican though.

[palsch]

Also, any pronostic for Florida? I really hope either Newt or Santorum wins, because I really like watching the primaries and I don't live in the States anyway (My house is open for political asylum seekers). But I guess this makes me a bad person.

Newt is currently miles ahead in the polls. 538 has him at better than 3:1. I'm comfortable with that prediction, especially given Romney's tax returns. Depends on how badly Newt screws up in the next little while and how much is spent.

I don't think anyone IS damning him for doing a legal tax return. Rather that they are damning the idea that that tax return SHOULD be legal.

Just a minor point. Tax returns are the documents demonstrating what taxes were paid, income levels, exemptions, etc. The reason people are pissed is that his effective tax rate was well under the median tax rate while his income was 1% levels. Even pretending his charitable contributions were taxes (and allowing Mormon tithing as charitable) he was paying less than the top rate of income tax (35%).