Romney Argued It's Fair For Him to Pay Lower Taxes than Low Income People

• BobYoMeowMeow wrote on 2012-09-24 15:55

  Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney defended paying an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent on Sunday, following the release of his 2011 tax returns and ensuing backlash from critics who pounced on his relatively low tax rate.
  
  In the process, he argued that it would be fair for him to pay a lower effective rate than someone on the low end of the income ladder as his earnings derived primarily from capital gains. Low rates on those earnings, he said, help spur investment.
  
  CBS' Scott Pelley pressed Romney on the issue during an interview that aired Sunday night on "60 Minutes."
  
  "Now you made, on your investments, personally, about $20 million last year," Pelley said. "And you paid 14 percent in federal taxes. That's the capital gains rate. Is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher rate than you did?"
  
  "It is a low rate," Romney said. "And one of the reasons why the capital gains tax rate is lower is because capital has already been taxed once at the corporate level, as high as 35 percent."
  
  When pressed on whether or not he believes that rate is fair, Romney said he thought it was the "right way to encourage economic growth -- to get people to invest, to start businesses, to put people to work."
  
  A Romney adviser said in an phone call Sunday night with The Huffington Post that Romney's tax plan has always called for keeping tax rates on capital gains lower while eliminating them for families with less than $200,000 in income from capital gains. In other words: the governor wasn't making policy news.
  
  Romney released his 2011 returns Friday after months of pressure to disclose more financial information. HuffPost's Zach Carter reported:

  
  
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/23/mitt-romney-tax-rate_n_1908112.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012
  
  
  No one really have the income to invest unless if you're in the $200k income bracket anyways.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-24 15:58
  Personally, I'm more for a flat tax rate percentage. That seems more fair to me. If I'm going to pay 30% for my taxes, make that across the board and get rid of all this tax code nonsense. That would be fair I would think.
  
  Rich people would have to pay the most while poor people would have to give the very least. Although if they only get like $100. Losing $30 of that to taxes does seem a bit rough :(
  
  Maybe a gradual flat income rate would be better so that the people who really need the money don't lose as much where the rate would change for each income bracket.
  
  Anyways, ya, Romney is bad news all around.
• Cynic wrote on 2012-09-24 16:38
  Yeah, because every single rich person in existence has earned their money fairly. Not like there are tons of rich kids mooching off their parents every single day without doing anything productive/to earn money themselves. Then we all know those poor people don't work hard at all and are only poor because they're too lazy to get a job. Every poor person is poor by choice.
  
  Who wouldn't want a president with such sound logic?
  
  
  [SIZE="1"]/blatant sarcasm[/SIZE]
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-24 16:45
  He's absolutely correct in saying that investment earnings should be taxed less, as it fuels economic activity. Access to capital is in fact one of America's strengths when it comes to business startups in part because of this. You don't want to take this away just because it makes some people jealous.
  
  Tax shelters and loopholes in tax law are a different matter.
• Maenad wrote on 2012-09-24 16:59

  Quote from Yoorah;955120:

  He's absolutely correct in saying that investment earnings should be taxed less, as it fuels economic activity. Access to capital is in fact one of America's strengths when it comes to business startups in part because of this. You don't want to take this away just because it makes some people jealous.
  
  Tax shelters and loopholes in tax law are a different matter.

  
  
  The reason America is in debt is because the people who can actually afford to part with a healthy chunk of their money pay around as much as the people who can't afford to pay, who live paycheck to paycheck.
• Aubog007 wrote on 2012-09-24 17:14

  Quote from Maenad;955127:

  The reason America is in debt is because the people who can actually afford to part with a healthy chunk of their money pay around as much as the people who can't afford to pay, who live paycheck to paycheck.

  
  
  
  Taxes are an easy subject to bring up yet a pain in the ass to expertly deal with them and find a solution everyone agrees with,
• Drizzit wrote on 2012-09-24 17:24
  Lower capital gains taxes do encourage investment, which is good for the economy. He's right about that much, at least.
• Kazuni wrote on 2012-09-24 17:38
  Everything he says is taken badly by the people who don't eat off a silver platter. They don't even bother to listen anymore rofl.
• Osayidan wrote on 2012-09-24 18:06

  Quote from Maenad;955127:

  The reason America is in debt is because the people who can actually afford to part with a healthy chunk of their money pay around as much as the people who can't afford to pay, who live paycheck to paycheck.

  
  
  There are not enough assets/liquid money in the US to pay the debt even if every single citizen sold everything they owned and lived naked n the streets and starved to death. So while the rich could probably do with a bit more taxing it's not the solution to the current problem.
• Rin wrote on 2012-09-24 19:04
  It does encourage investment if you have more secured income, yes. It's logical that the more extra money you have, the more it could probably be invested in something. Which in turn does help the economy.
  
  Investing in what and willingness to invest more is another matter.
• paladin wrote on 2012-09-26 00:16
  For the election vote: Your just gonan ailenate more voters,keep your buisness sense away from the average american or you risk making them jealous/confusing them
  Pratically: Fair enough but no more tax loopholes/heaveans if your getting a low tax pay it in full and we wont have issues
  If the rich pays their share of taxes then fine but if they want to play tax hookey let them be subject to the law like everyone