The Real Mitt Romney

[Adak]

Originally Posted by BigV

Romney's 2011 tax return, on a matchbook cover. cite.

Tell me how he can eliminate taxes on capital gains, interest, and dividends and still pay the same proportion of taxes?

According to his own words out of his own mouth, his taxable income will fall from 13.9 million to 0.45 million. Now, that almost half million will be taxed at 35% minus 20% of 35%, so 28% of half a million, about $126,000. That is a big tax bill. But it is far far lower than the $1.94 million dollars he did pay.

How is this possible? How is this consistent with what he says he'll do? It isn't! By HIS plan, to the extent that he's revealed the specifics, his tax rate goes from 14% to less than 1%.

You're a smart guy. Reconcile this arithmetically. Justify this morally. I'm listening.

I don't want to quote arithmetic, because it's not a 1+1 kind of thing, when you work with the economy and the tax rates and loopholes.

There are currently a HUGE pool of money, kept outside the states, because anyone with overseas offices, would be taxed on that money AGAIN, if they brought it back into the US.

That capital tax rate, is one of, if not the highest, corporate tax rate, in the world.

Here's what Germany does: you sell stuff overseas, you pay taxes in that country, (as we do also), and you pay little to NOTHING when you bring that money back to Germany! Their take on it is different than ours, however. Creating jobs is a DUTY written into the German Constitution, and every party takes it dead seriously.

Which is why companies like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and all kinds of German manufactured goods, can compete very well. They make GREAT power tools, I can attest!

That's been a problem with our economy for years, and Romney plans to help fix it. By just lowering the rate, a LOT of money (how much? I don't know. ), will return to the states. And we will be more competitive, in overseas business sales, etc.

I know Paul Ryan's monetary budget plan was published, but I haven't read Romney's proposed tax plan yet. I read what he was going to do, in broad strokes, and I know it will help.

Will it meet a certain specific goal? I don't know. I know cutting taxes massively helped Kennedy out of his recession, it helped Cleveland out of his recession, it helped Reagan out of Carter's recession. And I know FDR's recession was so deep he felt compelled to act just to relieve our anxieties. By most accounts, he lengthened the depression for us, by his actions. We never really got out of it, until we started making parts and etc., for the UK, and etc., just prior to our entry into WWII.

You can match any lie you get from Romney, with two from Obama, so please, let's not go into the "he's a liar", game. Politicians are not known for being strictly tied to the facts. Especially while they are campaigning.

When all the details are published, (in a bill), then we can look at the numbers, and see what does, and doesn't probably, add up. I expect Romney's numbers to be optimistic because:

1) Europe is still in an economic recession. Greece, Spain, Italy and others, are in very serious shape.

2) China's economy has been slowing down, lately.

If these two big external factors remain (and I believe #1 certainly will, and #2 will NOT stay), then I believe Romney's projections will be off. We do a lot of business with Europe, and have banking ties which directly support their banks. If they go down, we will be bailing them out, yet again.