COMMENTARY | Mitt Romney, candidate for the GOP nomination to run against Barack Obama this year, released his tax returns today, demonstrating an approximately 14 percent tax rate, according to CNN. That outlet continues by infuriatingly insisting that Romney's tax rate is higher than that of 80 percent of Americans. Such claims are misleading and demonstrate how politicians use statistics to their advantage, and as a voter it makes me mad as heck. I'm very interested in Mr. Romney's tax situation because it will affect whether I could vote for him.
Assume for a minute that Romney actually pays more than 80 percent of Americans. A quick look at IRS Publication 15, Page 37, Table 7 shows just one tax bracket lower than the rate Romney paid: a 10 percent bracket. It shows the only people who would pay a lower bracket than Romney are single people making less than $10,851 a year or couples making less than $25,501.
In other words, the only reason those people would pay less than Romney is that you can't get blood from a stone. For the claim to be true it would mean 80 percent of Americans are living on wages so low they're lucky they can buy food.
Romney also took his sweet time releasing his returns, and only gave data for two years, according to the New York Times. It leaves me wondering what he is hiding. Did he try to find some way to doctor his documentation? Did his publicists need time to write the spin-heavy press-releases meant to make his ridiculously low tax rate seem acceptable? If they did, they should have taken more time because his tax rate appalls me.
No matter what Romney may say one simple fact remains clear: Romney is so rich he will never understand the common citizen's struggles. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the gates of heaven, so it is said. Let's hope it's equally hard for him to enter the White House.
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