Letter: Misinformation on Mitt

Let's clear up some misinformation. Mitt Romney is an astute and successful businessman who made a lot of money. Good for him. That income was taxed by the IRS at 35 percent. He then invested his profits at some risk in companies he felt might be successful (and put his portfolio in a blind trust).

Those investments in 2011 provided a return on investments (ROI) of $14 million. That return or interest was then taxed again at a capital gains rate of 15 percent. Consequently, Mitt has paid 50 percent on his income and ROI in taxes. That's how the system works.

However the uninformed state that Romney only paid 15 percent in taxes last year while Barack Obama paid 21 percent. That is false and uninformed. It should also be noted that 2 percent of the wealthy pay 70 percent of the taxes in this country, but Obama feels they don't pay enough. Forty-seven percent of the population pays no federal income tax at all.

In addition, Obama in his divisive class warfare claims the "millionaires and billionaires" should pay more. If you took all of the income of that group, you would only pay the interest on our massive Obama accrued debt for 10 weeks. The only answer is to cut government spending, reduce federal government regulations and allow the entrepreneurial spirit to thrive in our free enterprise system.

Vaughn L. Pulsipher

Sandy