Comments about ‘Blame our tax laws’

The hyper wealthy have made millions upon millions of dollars of "donations" to members of congress to ensure that they get the tax laws they want. If you want tax laws to benefit you, pay up.

I don't care one bit about Romney and his precious riches. But when I did a cursory fact-check on the outrageous claims Romney has made, I realized this prevaricator has no integrity and no business thinking he's fit to lead our country.

Again I will say that Romney has done nothing wrong.

BUT, the questions we must ask ourselves is

Are these tax laws fair?
Do we want to elect people who want to lower taxes even further for the very wealthy?

To me, that is the biggest issue in this years elections.

I believe that Romney would make a good president. But his desire to further lower taxes on the very wealthy is a deal breaker for me. It is not good for our country.

And yes, I believe that we need to substantially cut spending while bringing tax rates up from their lowest levels in my lifetime.

No one is really blaming Romney for paying taxes at below 15%. No one is saying he is violating the law. They are just using him as an example of your point, that the tax system is messed up and unfair.

On top of that, though, Romney has no clue the world that is not filthy rich. Even $374,000 isn't very much money. Talk about tone deaf!

It riles me that people like the senator do not advocate a change in the tax law but rather implies its all in the "tax law" like nothing can be done about it.

It riles me that the Republicans continue to make up false arguments, and mythical boogey men. They distort the tax argument to claim that it's a complaint about people being successful, they claim that it's an attack on capitalism...when the coomplint simply is justice (I don't think it's fairness..two different things). The complaint is that work and non work incomes are taxed differently. The complaint is that work and non work taxes are taxed differently simply because of the power the rich have.

Romney continual characterized the President as having failed policies..then in the face of overwhelming evidence he's had to change his tune to well yes the economy is getting better it just could have gotten better faster with my policies.

New compares the President to Saul Alinsky..if you know anything about rules for radicals the President is a very poor Alinsky radical. He pretty much does the opposite from Alinskys recommendations. Guess who does follow the rules for radicals...yup Gingrich, and the other GOP candidates.

What would happen to the economy if Romney's $100 million was taken by the government? How many businesses would close? How many people would be put out of work? How long would that seizure of private assets last if the government used it to pay welfare to the people who lost their businesses and their jobs?

The short-sighted and ignorant assume that the "super rich" have their money in a piggy bank. Those who understand even a little bit about finance and the use of money realize that those funds are working hard for you and for me to provide the goods and services that we need.

Mr. Obama has no understanding of economics. He wants to seize anything that he considers to be excessive. How many people were denied help because the government "redistributed" tax dollars TO Mr. Obama for protection while he was on the golf-course or for protection while he vacationed or for the cost of his "private" Air Force One?

He cares nothing about the needs of the poor. He lives like a Pharaoh at the expense of tax payers.

Stop paying for Obama's lavish life-style FIRST.

"What would happen to the economy if Romney's $100 million was taken by the government?"

As usual Mike, you take an ALL-or-NOTHING approach.

Let me give you a sensible approach.

How about if we didn't take all of Romneys money.

How about if we Taxed him a bit more on the money he made in exchange for some substantial cuts in some of our spending programs.

How about the Dems agree to additional spending cuts and the Republicans agree to modest tax increases on people like Romney.

That way, less cuts are needed and less tax increases are needed. Both sides give and get.

And if we truly feel that tax increases on job creators will affect hiring, we address that in the tax code.

We are at historical low taxes and historical high spending.

How about we compromise? Novel approach.

Do you realize that raising the tax rate on Romneys' income would also raise the rate on our IRAs and 401ks? there goes your retirement plans. But just keep working, that will show those millionares.

"Mr. Obama has no understanding of economics. He wants to seize anything that he considers to be excessive. " Absolutely false. He proposes rasising taxes on capital gains to 30% still less than rates on income from work. Income from work goes to the rates back in the good old days when this country was prospering.

I don't want to hear about how many jobs Willard created when he was a Master of the Universe at Bain Capital. I want to know how many jobs his $250 million net worth and/or his $21.7 million income is creating today? The Republican party argument is that he and his plutocratic cohort are "entitled" to a lower tax rate since they are creating jobs. Great. Since Willard has claimed that he created 100,000 jobs at Bain, he should be able to trace just how many his wealth is creating today. The only ones we know for sure are those in the Cayman Islands and Switzerland watching over his accounts there.

Finally, if the minimum rate is 15%, how did he pay less than that? Isn't it this same party that screams about the poor paying less than their fare share of the tax burden?

How about blaming the wealthy Congressmen who write the tax laws?

KDave
401Ks and IRAs are taxed as ordinary income, not the capital gains tax rate, 15%, that Romney enjoys.

People also confuse venture capital with what private equity firms do.

Company Types: PE firms buy companies across all industries, whereas VCs are focused on technology, bio-tech, and clean-tech.
% Acquired: PE firms almost always buy 100% of a company in an LBO, whereas VCs only acquire a minority stake â less than 50%.
Size: PE firms make large investments â at least $100 million up into the tens of billions for large companies. VC investments are much smaller â often below $10 million for early-stage companies.
Structure: VC firms use only equity whereas PE firms use a combination of equity and debt.
Stage: PE firms buy mature, public companies whereas VCs invest mostly in early-stage â sometimes pre-revenue â companies.
Side note: âEquityâ above refers to using cash rather than debt, not to shareholdersâ equity, equity value, or anything else (the terminology can get confusing).

It is sometimes strange to hear people blame inanimate objects for their ills. I recall my young son blaming the door when he bumped into it and giving it a good kick.

Jim, much of the encouragement given to entrepreneurs by the government is the favored tax treatment given to them. And in truth given to them by themselves. The entrepreneurs are the same people who created the tax laws.

It would be interesting to know the result of a complete study of the effects on jobs of the Romney business operations. I think the net effect would be a great loss of jobs.

If the GOP had their way, cap gains tax would go to zero and Mitt and his billionaire buddies would pay NOTHING. No tax at all, zip, nada, zilch. How do Republicans sleep at night?

Irony Guy | 10:06 a.m. Jan. 31, 2012
Bountiful, Utah
If the GOP had their way, cap gains tax would go to zero and Mitt and his billionaire buddies would pay NOTHING. No tax at all, zip, nada, zilch. How do Republicans sleep at night?

==========================

Add that to the fact they send only the poor and the underpriveledged people's kids to fight and die for them and their corporations.

poster boy of WallStreet,
uber Rich and out of touch,
Mitt was a draft dodger.
That's gonna come up later in the campaign to haunt him, you can count on it.

And I read last night that Obama donated more than Mitt did to charity, Ouch!
This is gonna be like watching a slow train-wreck.

this letter once again illustrates what happens if you simply string a bunch of sound bites together. you get a mixed up bag of reasoning that does not support each other.

@mike richards

Apparently you have "no understanding" of what it means to have an honest debate. Obama at no time has proposed taking all of Romney or anyone else's money. What he has done is propose returning the wealthiest americans (which means his tax go up) tax rate to what it was before Bush jr took office and return capital gain taxes to roughly what they where under reagan. When you make wild statements it really speaks poorly of your position and your ability to have an honest discussion about the issues mike.

Ok liberals please explain your reasoning for wanting to increase the capital gains taxes on the segment of the population that already pay most of the income taxes collected by the Federal Government. You realize that the top 10% (people earning $110,000 or more) pay 70% of all income taxes, while the bottom 50% pay nothing or have negative rates (they get back more than they pay). You should also realize that Romney is an exception.

If you go to the Tax Foundation's website you will see that the average US citizen pay 11% in taxes. The top 1% averages 24%, and every other group below that pays a lower tax rate. See "Summary of Latest Federal Individual Income Tax Data" a the Tax Foundation web site. Looking at the information there, the system is not fair, the wealthy are already paying twice the average income tax rate.

To "LDS Liberal" and what percentage of your income did you pay in income taxes? Do you pay 15% or more in income taxes? If you are paying less than Romney does, why do you let it bother you so much? Why do you, and your ilk want to "stick it" to the rich?

@redshirt

you realize that the top 10% also make 85% of the income while the bottom 50% make 0.5% of the income? its easy to talk percentages when you only look at half the picture redshirt.