Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made $42.7 million over the past two years and paid $6.2 million in taxes, newly released documents show.
Romney and his wife, Ann, filed a joint 1040 reporting $21.7 million in 2010 income and $3 million in federal taxes. They also said their 2011 income was $21 million and tax bill was $3.2 million. Over the two years, Romney's effective tax rate – the percentage of his income that he owed in federal income taxes - was just under 14%.
Nevertheless, and contrary to popular perception, Romney's effective federal income tax rate is still above that of many Americans – 80% of whom have an effective rate below 15%. That tax rate is higher when other federal taxes - such as the payroll tax - are included.
And there's nothing that gets people revved up like peering into someone else's taxes to learn more about their wealth, especially when they're running for office. So you know that people were abuzz this morning trying to dissect it all, that is, if they could wrap their heads around it.
It appears Romney and his campaign knew that too, and expected the onslaught. If you did a search on Twitter for "Romney Taxes" "Romney Tax Returns" or "Romney" you saw an interesting promoted tweet, meaning someone paid for that tweet to show up at the top of the heap.
And judging by the tweet, Romney's camp must have thought, if people are going to be searching around, we ought to offer a message.
For the most part, the conversation online seemed more focused on what Romney's overall taxes show about America, rather than the candidate himself.
Rick Newman, the chief business correspondent for US News & World Report, tweeted a statistic that seemed to characterize what others were thinking.
#Romney earns enough in one week to qualify for the 1 percent. yhoo.it/yEF9Jw #OWS
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Rick Newman (@rickjnewman) January 24, 2012A majority of the comments we saw online showed that many folks, while they may have been a bit revolted by the mass amount of money Romney makes, found that more of the problem was our tax code or a major gap divide between the wealthy and middle class.
"Thanks to Occupy, rich-poor gap is front and center. See Mitt Romney's tax return.": bit.ly/yCELW1
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Edward Virtually (@edwardvirtually) January 24, 2012Yes, Romney donated to 17% to charity. But that isn't the point. Taxes help build roads, sustain schools, and support the vulnerable.
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Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) January 24, 2012This isn't about Romney per se. He's simply a case study in wealth inequality.
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Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) January 24, 2012It's not Romney's fault that he paid only 13.9% in taxes. But it does underscore all that's wrong about our tax code.
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Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 24, 2012Others bemoaned the general fact that Romney didn't have to pay more, considering what they pay, even if it is all part of the current rules.
Aren't you all excited to have an effective tax rate higher than multi-millionare Mitt Romney? Me too! Let's party!
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Ross (@Cephster) January 24, 2012But others thought that there wasn't any massive damage done by Romney releasing his tax returns, because they showed he also gave money to those who needed it, and simply followed our current rules.
The release of Romney's tax returns at this point will possibly only help him. he donated more to charity than he pd in taxes. that's a win
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Toni Watkins (@Toni_TWG) January 24, 2012Things learned from Romney's tax return: 1. He's filthy rich. 2. He pays the legal tax rate.
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Jacob Rawlins (@jrawlinsisu) January 24, 2012Some joked the release was well-timed because it came when people were paying more attention to Oscar nominations.
I'm not often vocal about politics but the reaction to Romney's tax returns is unbelievable. Welcome to America people.
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Drew Daniel (@AndrewCDaniel) January 24, 2012Am I the only one who thinks Romney dumped his tax information this morning, hoping everyone would talk about the Oscars instead?
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Joe Hill (@joe_hill) January 24, 2012It's a sad state of affairs when my twitter feed gives more attention to the Oscars than to Romney's tax return & the issues w/ US tax code
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Carli McKinney (@carlimck) January 24, 2012But for others, there was also a continuing sentiment of wondering why we get all excited about these tax releases anyway.
am i the only one that doesnt care about the tax returns of presidential candidates? #campaignsarestupid
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G Slade (@g2slade) January 24, 2012For some, knowing where the politics and money collide along the campaign trail was the more important monetary detail they'd prefer to learn.
I'm more interested in seeing where the millions of dollars to get elected goes than a candidates tax returns.
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Timothy Asher (@betthearm) January 24, 2012What do you think? Does it still matter that we see candidate tax returns? And if so, what is your reaction to Romney's release. Let us know in the comments below.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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your tax rate and your tax bracket are too different things Joe. Give me your actual AGI and your tax liability?
Guys are you really that selfish? He pays that low because instead of leaving his money in his bank and paying 0% in taxes he invests it into the economy and then pays taxes again! Not to mention on top of a (14%) tax rate he gave away almost another 20% in charitable donations. Taxes are required and charitable giving is optional. He gave away more money willingly then he gave away that was required. That is a good man! And yes he cut companies that were unpreductive and invested in companies that were going to succeed and as a whole he created tens of thousands of jobs. Get a grip and stop griping about why successful people dont give everything they have away to you!
So Mitt is the trickle down economics guy, giving lots of money to his church to offset his already reduced tax rate. Rest assured, everything he does in the way of charity is orchestrated by his tax/estate planners to minimize his taxes. Is it legal? Unfortunately Yes. Is it fair? NO!
Anthony do you know anything about how taxes and tax shields even work? Does it make any sense to you to pay a $100 in charitable contributions to save yourself from having to pay $15 to taxes? Yes, that's right that doesn't make any sense does it, unless of course you are a charitable individual. And did you not read that more than 80% of americans pay less of a tax rate than Romney? And the fact is that tax rate is to spur investment so money doesnt just sit in the bank but instead is invested to stimulate economic growth.
It's his money and he can have it NOW! Obama has got us complaining about what people make, frankly it is not your business what anyone makes or pays in taxes. If there is a crime that is for the IRS and Feds to prosecute and that becomes public record. I don't see anybody posting here with their tax return connection. I will be happy to audit a few returns, let me know where they are online and I will do that. Otherwise mind your own business.
14%...thank god for charitable donations and writting off all those kids as expenses. Its good to be king.
Mitt Romney is the poster boy for what's wrong with the present tax system which clearly favors those of wealth living off their capital gains. How clever and cunning the wealthy are having the shrinking middle class carry the load.
After tax income for someone making $50k @15% = $42,500. After tax income for someone making $10,000,000 @15% = $8,500,000. It's not about flat tax or tax rate, it's about the how much actual money is left over. $42k a year for everything needed to survive is a lot different than wondering what color lamborgini to get.
so 8.5 million is > 42k ?
This is profound.
I don't like Romney but let's be fair. The percentage may be less then most of us pay, but six million in 2 years? I am a computer programmer who makes a nice living and I wont even make six million in my lifetime let alone pay six million in taxes.
People may not like it but he earned it. And if you hike the tax on the rich, remember they are rich, they'll just compensate themselves less...
Except he pays a HIGHER percent in taxes than most of us, not less.
more on tax rates and tax brackets. Tax bracket is what you pay on your next dollar.
Average family making 85,000 per year (3 kids)
Personal deductions 3800X5 =19000
State Tax= 5000
Home Mtg deduction: 10000
Property taxes: 2500
donations: 4000
AGI: 40,500
Tax due 5,304
Total tax rate (like they are comparing Romney) 6.2%
If you consider the Mormon Church charity...I don't.
like
I have no problem with his success.
I just want to know if he earned that money by liquidating companies and firing people, which would make him ethically, a financial predator. Someone has to do it, I guess, but it's not waht my President should have done to become wealthy.
As my former governor, I felt he wan;t in touch with the people at all, an elitist.
This man is not in the top 1%, he is in the top .0006%. Everytime the average guy gets a small raise, he has to give about 25% back to the government. People like Romeney, the bigger the raise the smaller the percentage given to the government. We are now at a point where rich men like Romney are trying to buy the presidency. I would never in a million years vote for this man.
Lets be fair – Kennedy was rich, Papa Bush was rich, Reagan was rich, Carter was rich, Little Bush was rich, and Obama is getting richer and will get even richer just like Bill Cinton. Look at who runs. They are all wealthy.
I applaud Romney and every other successful person on his accomplishment.
Instead of criticizing Romney, we need to hold him up as a role model.
All these people are saying what does it matter. It matters that the potential president should be able to relate to the people he leads. Somebody making that kind of income might be out of touch with the country's poor, working class, and marginalized. He has incentives to cater to his millionaire/billionaire buddies and compete on how many homes they own, while people are foreclosed on every minute of every day.
Former Gov. Romney pays in taxes what is required by law for him to pay. He did not write that law but is only following it. The thing that most do not understand he is actually paying taxes twice on this very same money. He paid taxes on income that he made in which allowed him to invest. I wold also say that the 3.5 million or so in taxes he paid this year is more than 95% of the population will ever pay in their lifetimes. I want a President that can lead this country back to the finical strength it once had, not one that continues to be this country in further harm by running up more and more debt.
He won't be leading you anywhere. Unless you make as much as he does, you're not in HIS club. Don't think he's going to help anyone but himself and his buddies. You're a pawn in his game, and you'll never be anything more than that.
The fact that he paid 17% to charity and 13.8% in taxes means that chairty is more important to support than his country. Maybe he only wants to USE this country and the low wages to make millions. Maybe we are just fodder for his money-making machine.