"Romney campaign comes up with worst talking point ever."

[Avenger]

His tax rates don't bother me as long as it is legal. I know for a fact that he could be paying 75% and I won't see a dime extra in my paycheck. He is also unnecessarily defensive over his foreign accounts. What is the difference between that and buying into Putnam Asia Pacific Equity fund?

[Chakravartin]

Lemon Drop wrote:
Wow not even Bill Kristol has Romney's back.

"He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It's crazy," Kristol said on "Fox News Sunday." "You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two."

And don't dare go back to 2002 where you list your job as CEO and President of Bain Capital.

[Lemon Drop]

Avenger wrote:
His tax rates don't bother me as long as it is legal.

You'll find yourself in a very small minority of Americans when it comes to that.
All sorts of things that are legal look very bad if you're trying to become President.

[Dennis S]

A person acting defensive wouldn't be acting defensive if all he had were Putnam Asia Pacific Equity accounts.

[Lemon Drop]

Yes, because you pay full taxes on those Putnam mutual funds.

[Pops]

Avenger wrote:
His tax rates don't bother me as long as it is legal.

Then let's match up the "legal" with "ethical" and "moral" for a devout religious candidate. Let the voters decide based on facts.

Or would that be "immoral"?

[Pam]

I don't care about the 15% capital gains taxes. I'd like to see how his speaking fees and retirement income would be taxed at 15%. My tax rate is higher than that so I might be missing something.

[Ombligo]

Avenger wrote:
His tax rates don't bother me as long as it is legal.

I'm going to go take a shower after typing this but Avenger/Dakota is 100% correct on that point.

The American public is highly hypocritical. They fault candidates for doing exactly what nearly everyone of them would do. to wit - avoid taxes wherever possible and legal. I do it to save a few hundred dollars in taxes; Romney has much greater wealth so his savings are going to be exponentially higher.

Now I do have an issue with him not being secure enough to stand up and say that is what he did and that it is legal (backed by accountants and tax attorneys). Instead all his dodging and avoidance says there is something else that is in those records.

I'm as liberal as A/D is conservative - we have virtually nothing in common politically. There is not a chance I'll vote for Romney, but I also have no issue with his tax rates (just about everything else - yes, but not tax rates).

[Dennis S]

"I'm as liberal as A/D is conservative..."

Shouldn't it be D/A?

[Lemon Drop]

I'm not sure I agree that any of us would skirt tax laws and ethics the way that Mitt Romney has, based on what was known before and on what is coming out this week. It's a bit disingenuous to try and compare the average middle class W-2 taxpayer with a person like Mitt Romney.
If it turns out that a multimillionaire (and in reality the public has no idea how wealthy Romney is) has been paying less than 10% on income taxes because he controls so much wealth that he's able to design that for himself, I don't see that playing well.
How do people feel about Americans who go ex-pat to avoid taxes? It's legal, but do you respect that person? Is it hypocritical to criticize that? Would you do the same?

I see nothing at all hypocritical about deciding that this person isn't likely to put forward fair laws, in fact he's most likely to put forward laws that unfairly benefit super wealthy people such as himself.