Nothing against the owners, patrons, or the dining establishment, but there is something poignant about Paul Ryan getting booed in Miami by a conference hall full of AARP members, and him waking up the next morning to make an appearance at Versailles Restaurant in the same city. If Rep. Ryan is trying out for the role of Marie Antoinette, he just might land the role. Seniors can’t afford private medical insurance? Let them eat cake!
I’m still struggling to understand why Mitt Romney’s family attorney (aka, his “blind” trustee) decided to tell everyone that Romney didn’t claim all the charitable deductions that he was entitled to declare. Were we all supposed to be like “Yeah!! There’s a man who keeps a promise to pay at least 13% of his income in taxes”? Or were we supposed to be like, “Yeah!! Look at how generous this guy is”?
Was this a matter of Romney not wanting to give a charitable contribution without us all knowing about it?
To be clear, I understand the motivation for wanting the keep the effective rate at 14.1% rather than 9%. But it is much less effective when you tell us all that you overpaying your taxes in order to avoid looking bad.
I mean, first of all, you look like a dolt to yourself and your peers. Romney, remember, famously said that he wouldn’t even be qualified to serve as president if he paid one cent more in taxes than he was legally obligated to do. So, he says that, and then goes out and pays a lot more in taxes than he was legally obligated to do. And his lawyer makes sure that we all know this when there was really no reason for us to know it. There’s no crime in failing to claim a charitable donation on your taxes.
While we try to figure these things out, maybe we should also attempt to predict who Romney will choose to insult next. One thing is almost certain. We won’t have to wait long to find out.
a tale of two campaigns:
We need to check back after the election and see if he amends his return to claim the charitable deduction and get a refund.
He may have already done it and we’d never be able to know the difference. That tax return was all for show. There could be hundreds of other things in his amended return that he “forgot” to include in the one released to the public.
Exactly. Are these really the same tax returns that the IRS will read or has read? Watch out these are photocopies and Hawaiians know those aren’t proof.
I’m still betting Romney will retreat off the field and leave it to Rovian Jim Crow, Waukesha Republican scavenger hunts and Diebold mathmatics to prevent a whooping Obama mandate.
But that’s all “you people” are going to see!
I’m sure the paperwork has been completed already and the amended return will be filed November7.
Donating to church shouldn’t even be considered charity to begin with. Most people making donations on a weekly basis are doing so because they’re paying for a service that they themselves receive; whether through counseling, or community, or what have you.
“But the churches provide all sorts of things that help the community, like Catholic hospitals!” Then donate to the damn hospital…
Maybe it should be a deduction under some other regiment, but churches aren’t charities, especially not the Mormon Church, which looks like a great way to launder money or avoid taxes:
Insight: Mormon church made wealthy by donations
The Morman Church doesn’t sound as though it has much of a focus on charities in the traditional sense. A network of for-profit enterprises? They probably have bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, too. Does Romney donate to anything else besides the Mormon Church, or to anything else on the scale that he donates to the church?
On the whole, this pretty much has to be a minus to Romney, but primarily from the aspect of opportunity costs. He’s now got to talk for another week about his taxes. It re-inforces the slimy, tax-avoidance aspect of the man, but it also re-inforces the “generous charitable” side of the family.
Once again, I think this is an issue that will cause the RW support to go “meh, so what?”, the opposition to go “what else do you expect from him?”, and the 6 undecideds to scratch their heads in confusion.
I certainly don’t see anyone changing their vote from Romney to Obama over this … or this week as far as that goes. Maybe from Romney to some protest 3rd party which is almost as good tho.
And nobody seems to be saying that 14% is still really goddam low.
That’s what’s bugging me. The “average” millionaire, even with their investments well planned by competent tax advisers, still pays about 25 percent.
Ryan took a swing at seniors. Now it’s Rmoney’s turn.
Then, what demographics are left?
Oh, yes, he could specifically identify older white Southern and Western heterosexual men as a problem to America.
Or small business owners who get SBA loans instead of starting their businesses the old-fashioned way like he did.
Just get a family loan from dear old Dad, right?
My money’s on Pickup Trucks. Or loud motorcycles. Plenty of material there.
Gun owners.
Maybe his genius advisers will arrange for him to do a hunting photo op. Gonna go shoot some varmits! Release the hounds!
Maybe he’ll take Cheney and they can shoot each other in the face! A girl can dream.
He needs to cut some brush.
I’m still holding onto the fantasy hope that Larry Flynt did indeed fork out the bucks or that the promise of the stolen Mitt returns will show up on 9/28. Romney did promise last Spring to produce these returns in September but I so want this to be a pre emptive give.
hey, if that comes out, I’ll buy a years subscription to Hustler … only for the articles, of course.
I really hope they keep the campaign focus on those undeserving women.
I don’t know if anyone else here has read TREASURE ISLANDS by Nicholas Shaxson, but Mitt’s tax returns are unlikely to reflect much of where most of his money is hidden. When people are saying that he’s worth a quarter to a half-billion, that’s a lot of wiggle room, which suggests that tracking down Mitt’s money would be as hard as tracking down a Mexican drug lord’s fortunes.