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How Mitt Romney's Tax Rate Compares With Past Presidential Candidates

By contributors@theatlantic.com (Derek Thompson) | The Atlantic – Tue, Jan 24, 2012 12:33 PM EST

Many kudos to Wonkblog for the legwork in making this chart comparing Mitt Romney's tax rate to past presidential hopefuls':


The loudest story in this chart is the diversity of tax rates among the rich. In 2006, the typical effective tax rate (ETR, for short) for an American family was about 14%. That means the average family paid the federal government one in even seven dollars they earned, through payroll, income and other taxes. Obama paid twice that rate in 2006. McCain paid even more.

But Kerry paid only 13% in 2003 under the same tax law. How come? His tax return here is combined with his heiress wife Teresa Heinz. About half of her money came in the form of investments in tax-exempt municipal and state bonds, the New York Times reported, which made her "the wealthiest spouse of any major party nominee in United States history."

Tax diversity at the top is still the case. Compare Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, who paid about $1 million on $3 million of income in 2010. Both men are in the top 0.1% of earners today, which cuts off around $3 million in income. But Gingrich paid an ETR of 32% in 2010, whereas Romney paid an ETR of 14%. Why the gap? It's all in the source of income. Almost all of Romney's income is taxed at a 15% marginal rate because it's investments. Almost all of Gingrich's income is taxed at a 35% marginal rate because it's earned income.





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3 comments

  • TedC
    TedC  •  St Louis, Missouri  •  4 months ago
    Is that 14% average tax rate referenced above calculated using taxable income or earned income. The article implies earned income. I think if we added back the average deductions for mortgage interest, retirement savings, property taxes, charitable gifts and state income taxes the rate for every dollar earned would be much less than 14%.
  • cannabis_cures_cancers
    cannabis_cures_cancers  •  3 months ago
    Romney/Gingrich are 100% against this: Medical marijuana prescriptions help patients who suffer from conditions including: MS, HIV/AIDS, cancer, glaucoma, hepatitis C, ALS, Crohn's disease, Alzheimer's disease, nail patella, cachexia or wasting syndrome, severe/chronic pain, severe nausea, seizures, epilepsy, muscle spasms, anorexia, arthritis, migraine, decompensated cirrhosis, post-traumatic stress disorder, painful peripheral neuropathy, MD, inflammatory bowel disease, and other serious conditions. In 1998, 69% of the citizens in Washington, D.C. voted to legalize it. Republican Congress at that time blocked implementation by withholding funding. It passed unanimously in 2010. Cannabis extracts killed cancerous tumors on patients suffering from squamous cell carcinoma. Montel Williams has a few videos on youtube that will educate you out of your stereotypical concerns. 16 states already legalized it and Washington DC. For the last 37 years, every month on the 17th, patients around the US received cannistars of marijuana grown and dispensed through a program out of the University of Mississippi. The Fed. Gov. gave itself a patent on the 3 chemicals that were identified through research paid for by the Fed. Gov. in the US and countries like Israel because within the next year the patent on a chemical called marinol, which is sold here in the US, will run out and there are pharmaceutical companies lined up to fill the void with a generic real cannabis based product rather than synthetic. The initial reaction people have to legalizing it is that it will be hijacked by drug dens to sell drugs. That's not what is going on. A serious protocol has been set up in Sacramento California to be followed by the 16 states and Washington DC. and in Israel where since 1997, doctors dispense this to their patients at state run hospitals on a monthly basis in a way that makes it no different than any pharmaceutical agent. They’ll also reach out to the other 9 countries that have changed their cannabis laws as well to allow compassion for the people who can utilize it as a medical agent. The laws are not written to allow public access. Washington DC has the most stringent laws over any other and will be the final followed protocol. There is a serious limit to the amount that the facilities can grow and dispense which also kills any idea of it being a money making opportunity for dealers, etc. It is monitored more stringently than any of the commercial drug stores out there. People are suffering and currently being over prescribed in narcotics. This legalization would make cannabis a viable option. This has been going on for a lot of years and constantly made more stringent to eliminate the possibility of it being hijacked by drug dealers, etc. The current narcotics being prescribed are causing too many undesirable consequences. Diamorphine is prescribed to people with cancer and that is less than a molecule away from Heroin and is prescribed by doctors every day. That doesn't affect a lot of illnesses that would be affected from various parts of the cannabis plant. The scientists and doctors are finding the chemicals in this plant that will provide the medical capabilities that patients need. Our gov. has already confirmed it's medical efficacy. The main issue now is getting it to the people that need it. The most current protocol and legislation written makes it impossible to violate. There’s a serious limit to the amount that can be grown and dispersed. The growth facilities are closed facilities not accessible by the public. Only secured outward access to take them to a dispensory. At the dispensory you must be a registered doctor with a vailid recommendation for a registered patient. Patient must be registered which informs the community that the patient is receiving medical marijuana for a medical condition. Obama won’t allow arrests in this case. The Sacramento California facility can be inspected any time.
  • Jeroldine Stringer
    Jeroldine Stringer  •  Arrington, Tennessee  •  3 months ago
    MR. THOMPSON: THIS ARTICLE IS VERRRRY MISLEADING TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. MOST OF WHOM DO NOT KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TAXES ON CAPITAL GAINS. DO "YOU" KNOW THE DIFFERENCE? YOU WRITE AS THO YOU DON'T.
    WHY IS MONEY EVEN AN ISSUE? HE EARNED HIS MONEY LEGALLY AND PAID TAXES AS HE EARNED IT. THE MEDIA REALLY HAS BLOWN THIS UP. YOU GUYS TRY AND TRY TO KEEP UNIMPORTANT ISSUES IN THE NEWS. TALK ABOUT SOMETHING WE COULD LEARN FROM... INSTEAD OF ANTAGONIZING CRAP THAT MISLEADS THOSE WHO ARE UNINFORMED.
    • Rob
      Rob 3 months ago
      only idiots make comments with caps lock on. if you had something of true value to say, you wouldn't feel the need to overemphasize it with capslock. as far as money is concerned, it's not a matter of his wealth in question. People are upset that a person that earns as much as he does pays so much lower of a percentage in taxes than they do. They're not saying he is corrupt for earning mass wealth. They're saying the system is corrupt for allotting it the way it is. I actually disagree with both arguments. I don't think a person should have to pay a dime in personal income tax. I think taxes should only be paid at the business level, and in excise taxes via property taxes, road tolls and gasoline taxes.
    • Mac the floor guy
      Mac the floor guy 3 months ago
      I have no problem with anyone running for President who is worth billions of dollars if they are willing to "open up their books for inspection" and show the American public the following:
      !. How much they are worth-Romney's explanation that he is worth "somewhere between $150 million and $200 something million" tells me that he's trying to hide something. What's the difference, we know he's in the top 1/1000 of 1 %, so he needs to just tell the truth.. He should say "My current net worth is $250 Million." I can promise you, Romney is provided a monthly balance sheet disclosing his EXACT worth, and where all the jars full of money are buried in the Cayman Islands, Swiss bank accounts, etc. If he doesn't know within $100 million what his current net worth is, he is a rich IDIOT. Evading this basic question makes him look dishonest.
      2. Where did all the money come from, especially since Romney claims he didn't inherit any of his wealth. I'd like to know how much money, and where it came from for at least 20 years There have been a lot of questions raised about how Bain Capital operated under Romney, such as buying companies with depressed stock prices versus actual "book value", then breaking those companies up and selling off the parts for huge profits. There have been questions raised about pension funds being stripped of cash before workers were fired, and American taxpayers were left on the hook to reimburse the fired workers for their missing retirement money.Other companies which were operating at very profitable levels were bought up because their stock was undervalued, and because they had sometimes hundreds of millions in cash and liquid assets. Bain stripped the cash out of the banks, left the companies with little or no operating cash which forced what had been profitable companies into bankruptcy. Romney was reportedly paid "commissions" or "finders fees" on deals like this, which does not involve "risk" and should be taxed at 36 perrcent instead of 15 percent. I would be in prison for claiming commissions as income taxed at the same rate as capital gains.; This may be a LEGAL business practice, but in my book it is totally UNETHICAL.
      3. WHY does Romney start STUTTERING every time the issue of tax return disclosure comes up? This tells me he is hiding something. I would bet $10 (which is more significant to me than Romney's attempted $10,000 bet with Rick Perry) that there are many years when Romney made over $10 million in a year and paid no taxes at all, and possibly received a refund. Personally, I believe he has concerns that if his past returns are opened up to the public, he may actually have criminal tax evasion issues which will come to light. I remember a story about a questionable deduction Romney took on a "second home" which neighbors say they have never seen him visit. Supposedly, the home actually belongs to one of his sons. Romney said something about having a "bedroom in the basement with a COT". I don't think this deduction was legal, and there is no way in Hades you could convince me that you would ever catch Romney sleeping on a "COT". Since Romney has been running for President for 5 years now, you would have to believe that he would start "scrubbing" his tax returns to make it appear that he was not using unfair tax loopholes obtained by Bain's lobbyists. To me, this indicates that Romney is so greedy that he couldn't stand to pay 30 percent income tax rates that would appear more reasonable to the American public. If he's a "patriotic American who pays his share of taxes", then why does he have bank accounts in The Caymans, Switzerland, Bermuda and other tax havens?
      Nixon once said "The American people have a right to know that their President is not a crook".
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