Taxes, charity cost Romney 57.9 percent of income, page 1

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ATS Members have flagged this thread 6 times

Topic started on 15-10-2012 @ 10:32 AM by Thunderheart

Seriously?
I was cheering for Ron Paul until he bailed but the more I hear about Romney, the more I am cheering for him.
He is portrayed as evil and a tax cheat yet, you find me another politician of either party that has given so much of his income to charity and taxes.
Say what you will about his religion I don't care, anyone who gives so much to any charity can't be all that bad.

With President Obama expected to use his second-chance debate this week to portray Mitt Romney as an uncaring rich guy, a new analysis of the GOP candidate's wealth shows that the millionaire was so generous that he kept just 42 percent of his income.

Obama's team has mocked the 14.1 percent tax rate that Romney is in as shirking his responsibility. But Charlottesville, Va.-based Marotta Wealth Management, which pens a widely-followed research blog, found that when Romney's tax burden and charitable gifts are included, he paid out 57.9 percent of his income.

washingtonexaminer.com...

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 10:44 AM by Destinyone

reply to post by Thunderheart

Of course. According to the Left, Charitable giving doesn't count. It didn't go to taxes to support their agendas.

Des

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 11:14 AM by Rastus3663

I wanted to get to the bottom of this, mostly because I'm suspicious by nature; so I did some googling. Warning bells started going off when I read that Romney had donated stock, not cash. So I did some more digging and this is what I found:

The analysts said that if Romney and others at Bain got a stock cheap and eventually donated it to a church or charity without cashing in the stock, then they could get two tax benefits.

First, they would not have to pay capital gains tax on the appreciated value of the stock, which they would have to do if they sold the stock and either pocketed or donated the proceeds.

Second, they might be able to deduct all, or at least part of, the value of the donated stock from their taxable income.

Such a move can save wealthy donors millions of dollars, the analysts said.

Raw Story (s.tt...)

From what I get out of it, Romney was able to avoid taxes by donating. Particularly if he got the stock cheap and was able to deduct the full appreciation value. Though I'm glad some charities benefitted, he's not exactly some selfless philanthropist.

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 11:19 AM by SaturnFX

He paid 14.1% FICA
This is the discussion

Now real estate taxes for the bajillion homes he owns, etc.

And in regards to charity.
Tell me, how does he know exactly how much he spent on charitable donations?
You understand how that works, right?

A home worth 500k, you can pick up in a wise investment for say, 100k (storm damage lets say, or other ways..find a deal). Then immediately turn around and give it to charity, whom will write off the donation for full price which is tax deductable. (going against what you have to pay, not adding to

This is fuzzy math they are doing, and it brings a question of credibility for Marotta if they don't understand this simple fact.
They do state in their longer article that there is more than just the FICA, but they reversed the math for charity, and pretended it is a seperate entity (like they got nothing for their charitable donation).

Romney is a smart rich guy. He knows how to pay almost nothing (14% is nothing for someone making millions). Personally I dont begrudge him that. Thats how the system is designed, thats how its played. I would be doing the same in his shoes.

Let me show you an example of what is going on here:
_____
three men rent a room at a hotel that costs 30$
Each men gives 10$ and goes to their room
The clerk remembers the room only cost 25$
Clerk shoves 2$ into his pocket and gives each man a single dollar back

So, each man ended up paying 9$ for a room
9x3=27
2 dollars in clerks pocket = 29
So..where did the extra dollar go?

magic.

___
Not magic. It is destroying the equasion. added when it was meant to be subtracted, skewing the results into illogical nonsense
Same with this rather elementry report by this money organization...a money organization...whom gives bad math.
-reminds himself not to invest with these people-

But you know who would be the most vocal against this pretend report?
Mitt Romney.

YouTube Link

The right seems to be more in pain about Mitten's tax returns than the left here. The left simply smirks and says "typical". The right is desperately trying to justify this behavior more to themselves I think than to anyone.

Hey, if Mitt can make our nation as rich as he has made himself...sweet.

But I don't want to elect a president that gives 60% of his income away anyhow even if the math wasn't retarded and this was reality. If he does that to his books, what will he do with the nations purse?

-sits back and watches the right try to flip forward and backward at the same time-

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 11:23 AM by SaturnFX

Originally posted by Rastus3663
From what I get out of it, Romney was able to avoid taxes by donating.

Yes, thats how tax avoidance works. Hense why charitable tax donations are a hit with people overall. you can truely cut deep into your taxes by giving away crap with lipstick on it and get max benefit.
Stock, property, hell, even a car. Buy cheap, give away max, voila...you net yourself a nice deduction on the cheap.

The reason many people, us dirt farmers, don't understand this is because we don't know the system like them.

I know a bit about it, I have a silly rich uncle whom knows the tricks of the trade. Interesting game. When your on that level, its not just a fill your forms out and pay what needs to be paid, its a cross between a game of cards and chess...its a weird thrill to be playing the game for them also..a strategic game against the taxman.

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 12:53 PM by rbnhd76

reply to post by SaturnFX

I was about to rant, but "-tree hugging dirt worshipping liberal scum at your service-" explains it.

I love it when all the libtards lie, cheat, and steal, and then get mad at repugs for lying, cheating and stealing.

Please bro, put down the koolaid. All those in congress are guilty. Liars cheats and thieves all. As a citizen, I demand that they all be arrested and investigated. If there isn't anything on them, let them go, if so, well, I guess we can start getting rid of the major players.

I also love it when the lefts favorite demigod ,Warren Buffet, tries to tell us peons how our tax rates should be structured. Fox in the henhouse? Yep, and the farmer is a lazy bas

These people haven't fixed any problems. They haven't thinned out the law so common people could see what exactly is happening. Nope, we have some 92,000 pages of tax law as an example. What's the name of the story where they have the law rock, and every year all he politicians have to stand there and recite every law? This still seems a good idea.

So, yeah, please put down the koolaid and step away from the podium.

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 04:11 PM by Thunderheart

Still waiting....

find me another politician of either party that has given so much of his income to charity and taxes

gotta love the libs, "it's not how much he gave, it's how he gave it!"

edit on 15-10-2012 by Thunderheart because: (no reason given)

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 06:36 PM by Red Cloak

The level of stupidity amongst the average American is mind boggling.

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 08:48 PM by sheepslayer247

reply to post by SaturnFX

It's nice to see someone knows how it works. Charitable donations is one of the biggest tax-havens their is.

Not only can the donation be tax-deductible, but the charity may only be required to use 20% of their collected donations to use for their particular cause. That means that 80% can be eaten up by "administration costs".

If someone donates money to a charity, possibly one that they created, they can take the tax deduction AND pocket a big part of the donation itself in administration fees.

You can make money on your own charitable donations!

So it may seem like Romney, and other rich folk, are giving away their money to help the less-fortunate, in reality they may be making a profit from it.

reply posted on 15-10-2012 @ 09:11 PM by untouchable

If you buy that BS... I got this bridge for sale...Its in a country call Bsville... Now I am not a supporter of either,, you poor Americans are screwed! One retard or the other retard???hmm,, hard choice.. I pity us all as we will all be effected by this non-election...lol.. a closet gay man who has so far f'ed everything up or a cultist elitist who will do worse?? lose lose!

PM me if you want the bridge!
Its really cheap, no cash,, just your soul!

edit on 15-10-2012 by untouchable because: Addition of sarcasm!

reply posted on 16-10-2012 @ 12:30 AM by JiggyPotamus

Ya, of course this looks good to people who do not know what is really going on. You think he is just being a nice guy, but the truth is that by giving away this money, he is actually making more in the long run. It is all about deductions. I think I know this guy relatively well for not knowing him personally, and with him, as with other politicians, it is about looking good. Not only are his donations saving him money, but as I said, two for one.

And did you not see what went on with Romney screwing Ron Paul out of the Republican nomination? Paul didn't just "bail," as you put it. He was cheated, and there is evidence of this, which is what the Paul detractors always claimed was never there. And that Paul was just whining because he couldn't win. Nope. And once this happened, I noticed no one apologized, or seemed to want to change their views based on the evidence.

And I bet most of them are Romney supporters. This guy really is no good. For those that think Obama was bad, Romney will be worse. The writing has been on the wall for a long time. What did the Republicans do the last time they were in office? Bush is the one who got us involved in all of this crap overseas. And you know why? Because all of his buddies, and himself, are making a killing via their large corporations, which have made billions off of these "wars." It is people like Bush, and Romney, who are the reason we do not have more in terms of alternative fuels and power, because they push and shoot down things that would benefit the human race, because it hurts their bank balances. And that is the sad truth.

reply posted on 16-10-2012 @ 06:17 AM by 11235813213455

Only in today's America (and an election year) will you find mental degenerates that vilify charitable giving while lauding the the patriotism and virtue of paying more in taxes.

reply posted on 16-10-2012 @ 09:16 AM by SaturnFX

Originally posted by sheepslayer247
You can make money on your own charitable donations!

Giving to charity should be anonymous.
Charitable donations need to be called something different. Not completely taken away, just managed well and labelled as like...Transitional tax payment verses charity.

reply posted on 16-10-2012 @ 09:19 AM by SaturnFX

Originally posted by 11235813213455
Only in today's America (and an election year) will you find mental degenerates that vilify charitable giving while lauding the the patriotism and virtue of paying more in taxes.

This is not charitable giving. Don't get fooled with the name.
Let me give you an example.
You owe the bank $100
You buy a used ipod normally valued at 100$, but you got it from a pawn shop for like $20
You then give it to the bank under some weird rule, and they have to mark it as a donation worth $100
and so your even.

Is that charity you gave to the bank?
no
Is that a bad deal for the bank?
yes

This is how that works..Charitable donations are not charity, its a smart way to rip off the government.

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