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Title: Mitt’s 13% Tax
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URL Source: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article32227.htm
Published: Aug 19, 2012
Author: By Robert Reich
Post Date: 2012-08-19 18:01:15 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 427
Comments: 26
Mitt’s 13% Tax By Robert Reich August 18, 2012 "Information Clearing House" --Mitt Romney says “every year I’ve paid at least 13 percent [of my income in taxes] and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why the number gets well above 20 percent.” This is supposed to be in defense of not releasing his tax returns. Assume, for the sake of the argument, he’s telling the truth. Since when are charitable contributions added to income taxes when judging whether someone has paid his fair share? More to the point, Romney admits to an income of over $20 million a year for the last several decades. Which makes his 13 percent — or even 20 percent — violate the principle of equal sacrifice that lies at the core of our notion of tax fairness. Even Adam Smith, the 18th century guru of free-market conservatives, saw the wisdom of a graduated tax embodying the principle of equal sacrifice. “The rich should contribute to the public expense,” he wrote, “not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more in proportion.” Equal sacrifice means that in paying taxes people ought to feel about the same degree of pain regardless of whether they’re wealthy or poor. Logically, this means someone earning $20 million a year should pay a much larger proportion of his income in taxes than someone earning $200,000, who in turn should pay a larger proportion than someone earning $50,000. But Romney’s alleged 13 percent tax rate is lower than that of most middle class Americans who earn a tiny fraction of what he earns. At a time when poverty is increasing, when public parks and public libraries are being closed and when public schools are shrinking their offerings and their hours, when the nation’s debt is immense, and when the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together — Romney’s 13 percent is shameful. ROBERT B. REICH, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration. robertreich.org Scroll down to add / read comments
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
Notice the dwarf left out endless wars???? Most of forgotten them.
Hadn't even seen the article when I read your post. I knew who the author was the moment I saw the quote and "the dwarf." The faux concern these academic/gov't types have for the masses just oozes out until the moment comes when their clients are to be fed wholesale into the hopper. They are just fine with these zio-wars. Reich is too full of shit for words.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them ~ Thomas Jefferson
Doesn't anyone ever wonder how the hell anyone gets rich in this country anymore? I mean, when you consider all the arrows being shot at those who have been successful, isn't it remarkable they were able to do so in spite of the government and every politician continually trying to get what they have? At the same time, the criminal politicians are increasing their bank accounts off the backs of EVERYONE they represent ... all the while denying they are part of the problem. By the way, little Robert Reich is just such a mole.
And if someone knocked the shit out of him, all they would find left would be a pair of shoes and socks!!!
....yet America still pledges untold billions to a shitty little nationette of pornographers, financial scam-artists, and human slave traffickers. And I don't even have to name this nation for all of us to guess its' identity. At a time when poverty is increasing, when public parks and public libraries are being closed and when public schools are shrinking their offerings and their hours, when the nation’s debt is immense, and when the 400 richest Americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million of us put together — Romney’s 13 percent is shameful.
#2. To: Cynicom (#1)
Notice the dwarf left out endless wars????
#3. To: tom007 (#0)
#4. To: tom007 (#0)
...Romney’s alleged 13 percent tax rate is lower than that of most middle class Americans who earn a tiny fraction of what he earns.
#5. To: Lod (#3)
(Edited)
Reich is too full of shit for words.
#6. To: tom007 (#0)
At a time when poverty is increasing, when public parks and public libraries are being closed and when public schools are shrinking their offerings and their hours, when the nation’s debt is immense,
-Alex Kurtagic
#7. To: X-15 (#6)
Could I have a "J" ?
#8. To: Cynicom (#7)
No ... you get an "I"! Could I have a "J" ?
#9. To: X-15 (#6)
You're talkin' about Eye-Ran, right? And I don't even have to name this nation for all of us to guess its' identity.
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#10. To: Esso (#9)
hehehehe Yeah ... You're talkin' about Eye-Ran, right?
#11. To: Cynicom, Phant2000 (#8) (Edited)
No ... you get an "I"! We should get an official ruling, but if I was one of the judges, I'd give it to you, OM. (jewistan) Could I have a "J" ?
Mike Flaherty: Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.
My Man Godfrey (1936)
#12. To: Esso (#11)
One thing for sure, it is a place where billions of American tax dollars are sent, never to be seen again. The black hole of world Jewry.
#13. To: tom007 (#0)
Romney is counting, as money going to "charity", the tithe he is REQUIRED (by Mormon Church rules) to give to the Mormon Church. Under the rules of the Mormon Church, that's supposed to be 10% of his annual income. But it goes toward projects of that church, so it probably isn't used for anything that the vast majority of us would recognize as "charity". Even if Romney were setting aside that 10% and using it all to run an orphanage or an inner city hospital, most of us wouldn't think of this tithe as "paying federal income taxes". But this may explain why Romney won't release his tax returns -- maybe he's been shorting his own church! Maybe he's been giving the Mormon Church considerably less than the 10% it expects and requires. With someone as rich as Romney, he could give the LDS Church a million dollars in one lump sum every year - and still not be approaching the required ten percent. And the Church is known for being very tough on people who break its rules. Romney may well be more frightened of what his Church would do to him for riding light than what the voters would do to him for keeping a lid on his tax returns.
#14. To: X-15 (#6)
Mummmmm, Norway? And I don't even have to name this nation for all of us to guess its' identity.
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#15. To: Cynicom (#7)
No. You can have an "I" or better an L for Likud. Could I have a "J" ?
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#16. To: Cynicom (#1)
No cause I am patriotic and do not hate America like you. S> But C, dwarf? You are better than this. Notice the dwarf left out endless wars????
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#17. To: tom007, 4, X-15, name game (#15)
What Christ called'em - Synagogue of Satan has a ring to it, or the ever popular that slc.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them ~ Thomas Jefferson
#18. To: All (#15)
C _ the biggest man to ever become a Roman Emperor was among the worst of the rulers Rome ever had. And the only man to become emperor from common army ranks. He was 8' 4" tall, prolly weighed 325 lbs - my guess, I do not do a stones to pound conversion fluently. Could break horses legs with a single blow. His name was something like Maximannus, the maximum man, but there are a number a like named historical persons that were running around the Empire at the same time.
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#19. To: Shoonra (#13)
Ummmm No - 15% - less, or none if you cannot afford it, is what I very recently read while in SLC. S - has judaism influenced Joseph Smith and his the Morman religion in any way?? No googling allowed. Under the rules of the Mormon Church, that's supposed to be 10% of his annual income.
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#20. To: tom007 (#16)
Not certain as to your intent there Tom. No cause I am patriotic and do not hate America like you.
#21. To: Cynicom (#20)
Yes, the s> means sarcasm.
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#22. To: tom007, 4 (#21)
(willard screwed yet another political pooch when he equated tithing with taxes) buckwheat should coast to victory in the fall. interesting(?) site -
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them ~ Thomas Jefferson
#23. To: tom007 (#21)
tom... Had a stroke few days ago, things still not normal. All I know is this. This country is going down within ten years, whether from fiscal collapse, or from war or both. What I see these days reminds me like a rerun of the late 1930s. Day after day of war talk and impending doom. We of the masses had no voice then just as we have none now. All of us knew it would be us to do the bleeding and dying.
#24. To: Cynicom (#23)
dang, you're doing pretty good for having a stroke if you can post on the computer. i hope you feel better though. My dog actually had a stroke when i went out of town one time. poor girl was paralyzed on one side, couldnt stand and seemed near death. when i got home a few days later i took her to the vet and she got a shot of steroids. she was completely recovered in 10 days. No more lopsidedness or paralysis whatsoever. she is 17 now. that is very extremely old for a dog her size. i guess the point is, have you tried steroids? :-)
"Even to the death fight for truth, and the LORD your God will battle for you". Sirach 4:28
#25. To: Cynicom (#23)
Kick back a while, Cyni, and get some family time. Lord knows you kin bust a gasket over these topics & I know it doesn't do much for my blood pressure. Hope you're feeling up to snuff again soon. Regards - r.
#26. To: Lod, Tom007 (#3)
Couldn't have said it better myself. Reich is too full of shit for words.
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