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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsRomney Says He’s Been Audited (updated 3x)
Last edited Mon Jul 30, 2012, 08:13 PM - Edit history (2)
Mitt Romney said that he had been audited more than once in his interview with ABCs David Muir. In response to a question about his tax rate, Romney casually mentioned the audits.
From ABCs transcript:
Romney: I havent calculated that. Im happy to go back and look but my view is Ive paid all the taxes required by law. From time to time Ive been audited as happens I think to other citizens as well and the accounting firm which prepares (my) taxes has done a very thorough and complete job pay(ing) taxes as legally due. I dont pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I dont think Id be qualified to become president. Id think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires.
Its not uncommon for wealthy individuals to be audited, but the comment is unlikely to allay peoples desire to see more of Romneys tax returns.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/romney-says-hes-been-audited
Audited by whom? Does "audited* = no immoral or potentially illegal findings? I mean, if you were hiding money from the IRS, and the audit occurred before any amnesty, what does that have to do with anything?
Mitt, since you're a pathological liar, release your returns. After all, you've been "audited" so there is nothing to hide, right?
Updated to add:
by Jed Lewison
Mitt Romney's tax returns are still following him around the globe, but this time, instead of a question about whether he'll release more returns, ABC's David Muir asked Romney a question about what might or not be in those secret tax returns. Specifically, Muir asked Romney whether he's ever paid a lower effective tax rate than 13.9 percent he paid on his 2010 returns. Romney's answer:
Of course, Mitt will never "go back and look" because if he did that, he'd have an even tougher time justifying his tax return secrecy. And when Muir asked the natural follow-up"you said you would go back and look, would you look for us?"Romney backed down.
So, not only did he drop the "happy to look" bluff, he added "so far as I can recall" into the mixand that's a phrase no politician who is being accused of hiding something should ever use. But even if Romney's recollection is accurate, it's worth noting that by his definition, 13.9 percent is "a very substantial amount of taxes."
That's absurd on it's face, but it's doubly absurd in light of another argument Romney made to Muir. "Frankly, if I had paid more than are legally due, I don't think I'd be qualified to become president," he said. "I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires."
In one sense, Romney is right. As long as you're not using Swiss bank accounts and Bermuda shell corporations to shelter income and dodge taxes, nobody should pay more than they are legally required. But Romney is refusing to reveal the information which would show whether or not he exploited the law and took advantage of gray areas.
And all of this would be different if Romney were to say that while he pays 13.9 percent, he recognizes that his tax rate is much lower than other people's tax ratesand that it's not fair for someone of his wealth to pay less than somebody making 1 percent or even 5 percent as much as he does every year. But Romney isn't saying that. He's not just saying that he's paid what he has legally owed, he's described what he's legally owed as "a very substantial" tax burden. Sorry, Mitt: 13.9 percent isn't substantial. Not even close.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/30/1114973/-Romney-I-ve-paid-very-substantial-taxes-every-year-so-far-as-I-can-recall
Anyone believe Mitt hasn't seen his tax returns recently and has no idea what's in them?
Update 2:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/30/13032341-first-thoughts-recapping-romneys-israel-stop
So being audited "from time to time" becomes audited once "more than 10 years ago"?
Oops!
Courtesy DUer aint_no_life_nowhere:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/should-mitt-romney-be-audited
Again, oops!
Update 3:
Benjy Sarlin
Despite telling ABC News over the weekend hed be happy to hand over more information on his past tax returns, Mitt Romney has yet to follow up on their request.
<...>
But ABC says Romney officials have not gotten back to them on whether Romney ever paid a lower tax rate than 13.9% despite their repeated queries. Instead, they received a rehash of Romneys already disclosed taxes and charitable donations from 2010, suggesting that Romney may have overpromised in his interview what his campaign was willing to reveal.
<...>
The Obama campaign accused Romney of breaking his promise by not disclosing more details about his tax rate.
Its not surprising that Mitt Romney - the most secretive nominee in recent history - is once again siding against transparency and breaking his promise to go back and look at additional tax returns to see if he ever paid less than his 2010 rate of 13.9%, Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said in a statement. His refusal to do so raises serious questions about just how much he has paid in taxes and whether he has resorted to tax loopholes and dodges to avoid paying his fair share. He can put these questions to rest by following decades of precedent by releasing additional years worth of returns and providing the full account of the income tax rates he paid, as he promised he would just days ago.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-keeps-abc-waiting-for-promised-tax-information.php
onehandle
(51,122 posts)And a red checkmark smells too. Make it twelve.
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)but not saying why he was arrested or the outcome of the court case, etc.
I'm not equating being arrested with being audited because I know they audit plenty of people who did nothing wrong....my point is that you don't know the outcome just by saying, "I was audited" that doesn't tell us anything. What did they FIND if anything?!?!
cbdo2007
(9,213 posts)would catch them. Nice try though!
TBF
(32,134 posts)there are tons of loopholes that good tax attorneys will find/exploit. I'd like to know his total income. I'll bet that's what he doesn't really want to release.
Trillo
(9,154 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)Apparently, that was the official campaign position in January. Now, lo and behold the Etch A Sketch Ouija Board says he's been audited more than once.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/07/should-mitt-romney-be-audited
"...Romney's campaign has said he's never been audited. "I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more," Romney said during a January primary debate. ..."
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)should be an OP. One of those claims is a lie.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)Hopefully, David Corn from Mother Jones will comment on the inconsistency. Such blatant lying should provide all the more justification to see all his tax returns.
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)dembotoz
(16,865 posts)Brother Buzz
(36,497 posts)So Stop Saying That!
louis-t
(23,309 posts)"Frankly, if I had paid more than are legally due, I don't think I'd be qualified to become president," he said. "I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires."
WTF?
SunsetDreams
(8,571 posts)Mitt Thinks You Are A Sucker
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021046041
rocktivity
(44,585 posts)rocktivitiy
ananda
(28,895 posts).. and that's that??
O please.
NNN0LHI
(67,190 posts)... so far as I can recall ...
Don
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)Every tax software out there (and there is no doubt software was used to determine his taxes) produces a calculation called the Effective Tax Rate. That is what the software is optimizing the return for.
Most tax software applications print this out with the summary page of the return and it can be easily determined from the summary page of a completed return. If Romney signed his own return, then he knows exactly what his ETR is.
By saying *he didn't calculate that*, he means the software did it. HE KNOWS what it is, but he's playing a word game here.
sa2968
(38 posts)...when will the media start to challenge him??
starroute
(12,977 posts)And that he regards making public even one year of tax returns as going above and beyond the federal disclosure requirements.
That's what really grinds me -- not that he applies this letter-of-the-law standard to his taxes, but that he applies it to his relationship with the American public. That is something completely unbecoming any would-be president.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/07/most-important-parts-romneys-five-friday-night-interviews/54586/
He will release no more than two years of tax returns, he told CNN. "The law requires us to put out a full financial disclosure and that I've done... And that's what we're going to put out. People always want to get more and we're putting out what is required plus more that is not required. And those are the two years that people are going to have and that's all that's necessary for people to understand something about my finances."
jb5150
(1,185 posts)Translation; "I take advantage of all the tax loopholes created by my rich friends".
Response to ProSense (Original post)
bupkus This message was self-deleted by its author.
spooky3
(34,525 posts)should be HAPPY to provide the tax returns to everyone, to show how smart he has been to avoid over-paying.
Until that inconsistency is resolved, I don't buy it.
unblock
(52,484 posts)is disqualified, in rmoney's mind, from being president?
for being insufficiently greedy, i guess?
spanone
(135,923 posts)Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)Which means he knows what he paid. Otherwise he couldn't say that. He needs to audited.
unblock
(52,484 posts)there's no excuse not to release them other than that they clearly prefer the negative press for nondisclosure to the negative press resulting from disclosing whatever is in there.
unblock
(52,484 posts)"the accounting firm which prepares (my) taxes has done a very thorough and complete job pay(ing) taxes as legally due"
first, if the audit was 100% clean, he would have jumped at the opportunity to say the audit found my taxes were 100% squeaky clean in full compliance with the law.
second, mentioning the accounting firm is a way to shift blame. anything that was done improperly was *their* fault, not mine, or at least not *entirely* my fault. this is a natural subconscious trick, especially for a narcissist like rmoney.
third, he doesn't say WHEN his accounting firm did a complete job paying taxes due. in fact the wording rather implies that he diligently paid whatever back taxes and penalties were found to be due by the audit.
Ruby the Liberal
(26,219 posts)Not being responsible for your own convoluted tax returns. Its "someone elses" fault and no question, audit protection/liability is built into the fees he pays them to pump out all 500 pages every year.
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)The man is a pathological liar.
ProSense
(116,464 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)If you are not qualified to be President if you overpaid your taxes, then let's see the returns. Maybe we will find you overpaid.
madinmaryland
(64,934 posts)ProSense
(116,464 posts)Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)This guy panics in a friendly environment. He just might self destruct in front of the entire nation.
aint_no_life_nowhere
(21,925 posts)His campaign is more top secret and clamped down than Area 51. I think I'll start calling it "Area 52", since Mitt is also the most bizarre, alien-like creature to ever run for office..
Astazia
(262 posts)paperwork or proof showing what everyone thinks is or isn't in Mitten & Ann's tax returns? Weaving a tale for speculation on all fronts & breaking it out in say....September? Seems the seeds have been planted in the drought plagued swing states & once the dog days of summer are over...who knows if all the chatter might be a precursor to the truth coming out before the debates? I would love to see something like being outed as Mr. 1% wipe the smirk off his mug.