Chan Lowe: Mitt Romney's tax returns
One can only assume that Mitt Romney is stalling on the release of his tax returns until he is the official nominee of the Republican Party, because by then it will be too late to trade him in when the nation finds out that he’s been getting a pretty easy ride. Americans are used to rich guys running for president. They don’t even mind so much that their income keeps pouring in over the transom while they just sit there on their bankbooks.
What ticks people off, though, is a skewed, preferential system that enables the idle rich to skate off with a much lower tax rate than those who actually have to get out of bed every day to earn a living. That’s a tough one to justify, even to ultra-conservatives. As Newt Gingrich said, “Why don’t we all pay a 15 percent tax rate?” Yeah, why don’t we?
What possible justification could there be for this inequity? Is it that wealthy investors need to be encouraged to invest through lower tax rates? Funny, they still managed to invest during the Eisenhower administration when the tax rate on the wealthy was around sixty percent. And why does the middle class pay a higher rate? By implication, wage earners must be society’s parasites. They should be penalized for working and producing things.
So it’s no surprise that Romney is treating his tax returns as if they’re radioactive. They are. If people were thinking straight, his 1040s alone would bury him. But he still has a few things working for him that will cloud Americans’ judgment: Many people hate Obama so much they don’t care if Romney is nothing more than a carbuncle on the butt cheek of working America. Also, there’s abortion, gay marriage, evolution, global warming, prayer in the schools, and a host of other distractions that will get their minds off the obvious, which is that they’re being bamboozled all over again.
CHAN LOWE has been the Sun Sentinel’s first and only editorial cartoonist for the past twenty-six years. Before that, he worked as cartoonist and writer for the Oklahoma City Times and the Shawnee (OK) News-Star.
Comments
Suppose I want to "invest" in comapny XYZ. I call my broker and ask him or her to buy 100 shares of XYZ. After brokerage fees, etc., who gets that money? The person who sold those shares. Company XYZ never sees a penny. The preferential tax rate encourages not investment, but speculation.
Posted by: Edgar R. Schneider | January 19, 2012 9:26 AM
Mitt's father,George Romney,released 12 years worth of tax returns when he ran for Prez.....If Mitt was "half the man" his dad was,then he should be willing to show at least 6 years worth of his tax returns....
Mitt is very reluctant to release returns,finally conceding to show his 2011 return after he files in April....This way, other years can be "kept under wraps" & the one he shows can be prettied up for the public....and the beat goes on & on with this circus.....
Posted by: Lorraine Wagner | January 19, 2012 3:25 PM