So was Harry Reid "Dan Rathered" when someone gave him 'info' that Romney

[applegrove]

paid not taxes for 10 years? Has anybody talked about this yet?

[unblock]

1. politicians have a special license to get it wrong; news anchors don't.

disclaimers:
- i'm not willing to say reid actually got it wrong until rmoney releases all his tax returns proving otherwise.
- no, fauxsnooze talking heads do NOT count as news anchors; their entire JOB is to get it wrong.

[progressivebydesign]

2. Nope. There is still no proof that Romney paid taxes each year. they AVERAGED the taxes.

And some of the 20 years were forced at 29% capital gains. It's possible he did not pay taxes..

[Betsy Ross]

3. I think it is "no income tax" only capital gains taxes.

When Rmoney was first questioned, the fact that he said he paid all the taxes he was legally obligated to pay, but he never said 'income tax.'

[onenote]

15. We've been through this. Capital gains taxes are income.

And capital gains are income taxes.

Form 1040 is the "US Individual Income Tax Form". Under the heading of "income" there are a variety of categories, including "wages, salaries, tips, etc.", interest income, dividends, alimony, business income, capital gains, social security benefits, etc.

When they are all added together, you have total income. After certain deductions, you are left with adjusted gross income. After further deductions and exemptions, you have taxable income. And then you calculate your "income tax". What table you use to calculate your income tax will depend on whether, among other things, you had capital gains income (even if you also had other categories of income). The end result is a calculation of a single "income tax" due (based on the tax due for different categories of income).

Its just silly and factually incorrect to suggest that Romney didn't pay income taxes the years he paid capital gains taxes (plus, he almost certainly paid taxes on interest and dividend income those years as well) and its silly to think Harry was trying to draw such a distinction. I still think there may be a couple of years in there where Romney's net tax liability was zero or nearly zero but probably not ten year's worth. The fact Romney went back 20 years suggests he was trying to drive up the average to cover up some very low tax years in the past 10.

[brush]

4. Don't even try it

Well let's talk about it. If Harry Reid is so wrong why won't Romney show taxes for more than two years. And he even had to adjust his 2011 return to conform with his earlier statements on his still absurdly low tax rate. If he hadn't had his accountant adjust it his tax rate for 2011 would have been under 10%. Not a good number when most people making a whole lot less than him (and actually work for it, not get it in capital gains payouts without working), pay two and three times that much in tax percentage rate. It's so obvious that he's hiding something big that would wreck his chances even more than his dismally run campaign already has. I mean, what stupidity to release his taxes now on top of the 47% tape, the Univision 'browning' incident, the remark about it would be easier if he were Mexican, the rumors of his campaign being in turmoil, the ill-timed and ill advised Arab protest press conference calling the President a terrorist sympathizer even while Americans were being killed, the no mention of the troops in his convention speech, and no bump from the convention and on and on and on. And he opens up the whole tax issue again. Why now since he hasn't released them all along anyway? Why bring it up. I mean talk about amateur hour in running a campaign.

[MrSlayer]

5. I know he doesn't fuck donkeys, I just want the bastard to deny it.

It's like that. Mitt will never release his full actual returns for a reason. It might not be the reason Reid says but there is a reason. So why not fuck with him? We can say the reason is anything at all. He'll never prove it wrong.

[truebluegreen]

6. "No."

[JDPriestly]

7. Reid suggested that he had been told that Romney had not paid taxes.

He didn't claim to have the evidence. He didn't claim to have proof.

He challenged Romney to show his tax returns to disprove the statement made to him.

So, Reid did not assert that Romney had not paid taxes. He said he had been told that Romney had paid 0 taxes. Could still be true. Romney is not releasing his tax returns.

There may have been years in which Romney took next to no income.

[applegrove]

8. I guess we'll never know.

[JeffersonLoveChild]

9. Reid's actual statement

"A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.

"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

"You guys have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."

Source

That aside, there are numerous holes in just the two partial returns released by Romney. Most tellingly, it lacks substantial information relating to his foreign shareholdings.

In any case, Romney could've just released his returns and score a huge political point against President Obama. The fact that he did not, despite pressure from even his own party members, clearly shows that he has something to hide.

[applegrove]

10. I still worry he will release his returns as an october surprise and say "see - you should trust me"

because he's known he was running for president probably his whole life.

[TroyD]

11. I don't see that happening

I don't think Romney has any intention of releasing his full tax returns for the past decade.

And even in the unlikely event he did something like that at the last moment, the public might get ticked off at the games he's been playing with them.

[JeffersonLoveChild]

13. There is that possibility, of course, but ...

.. one thing makes it unlikely.

McCain, who has seen Mitten's past 23 years tax return in 2008 (for the VP consideration), has not come to his defense.

[NYC Liberal]

18. That won't fly. People will ask if he's so honest, why'd it take months to finally do so?

Not to mention all the other stupid things he's done and said in those months.

[MADem]

12. Hell no! How often do people demand that RMoney "show us the tax returns?"

Harry Reid screwed the opposition, and his comments are the gift that keeps on giving.

Your perspective on that whole "win" (and it was--and continues to be--a HUGE WIN) is strange, indeed.

RMoney can never get over that, unless and until he releases his full tax returns to include the schedules.

[Bohunk68]

14. This is the second thread

that I have seen on Latest Threads where the OP has asked a question that is contrary to what you would think a person with that many posts would be asking. You also asked how many House Districts there were? Something doesn't seem right here. And now, to be what seems to be a deliberate miscontruing of Reid's statements? Not passing the smell test.

[applegrove]

19. I'm Canadian. That is why I don't know how many districts there are.

I was just wondering about Reid. I didn't quite remember the details so I googled it and this is what I found:

"In an interview with the Huffington Post in July, Reid said an unnamed person who had invested with Bain Capital, which Romney used to head, told Reid that Romney didn’t pay taxes for 10 years."

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/sep/21/harry-reid-not-backing-down-over-issue-romneys-

[WI_DEM]

16. Then why isn't Rmoney releasing ten years or twenty years to refute Reid?

[Sunlei]

17. Romney had to weight the average with a 20!! year summery to even show +13%

and not take millions in current deductions. Bet there are quite a few zero tax years.