The loopholes for the super rich must be protected and hidden no matter what.

Romney can't release his taxes and then talk about creating a fairer tax system.

How is that possible?

Most folks have an IRA thru their work. They understand that there is a limit to how much you can put in it.

How can Romney put $100 million in his?

well, one theory is that he put in a ton of stock but severely undervalued it. this is possible with a private company because if it's not publicly traded, the value is pretty much whatever you can convince the irs it was worth at the time.

other possibilities include that he put some sort of bain preferred shares which was then granted huge special dividends, or some kind of derivative designed to gain a ton of money while an offsetting derivative OUTside his IRA lost a ton of money. that would let him stuff his ira while at the same time claiming huge losses on against his taxable portfolio.


it's very hard to imagine how you can do this without gaming the system one way or another.

You are right about that!

That is how I simplify the IRA ploy. It has been know for years, but few have the resources to rig it as this level.

I've heard of people placing types of options in their plans.

and possibly perjury (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002981220) and tax evasion (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002990530).

is trying to decide if the shirts we donated to Goodwill were worth 50 cents each, or 75 cents?

My first thought is that it isn't. as much as we'd like to believe that is (I don't) and believe that it should be an issue (I do), right now I think that's not the case.

The race in Virginia has tightened and that's AFTER this whole thing has been in the news every day. There are signs that Michigan (!?!?) has tightened and New Hampshire. In my view the Romney campaign has not been as significantly derailed as some people (would like to) believe.

It's also my observation that Romney's crowds have been as large and as enthusiastic as President Obama's.

I also think that Republicans are successfully misdirecting us. I believe that many Republican higher-ups don't like Romney and couldn't care less if he loses. What they want most is to retain control of the House and get control of the Senate. Right now there are 8 Democratic Senate seats that could flip to the Repubs: Montana, Missouri, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska and, believe it or not, Hawaii. The emails I receive from Sherrod Brown suggest he is in a panic. So that makes 9, although I believe Senator Brown will prevail. If Romney loses but they get the Senate McConnell won't lose a wink of sleep.

Here's a simple example.

A couple filing jointly can put up to 34k (17k each) into a 401k, and the taxes are deferred. Most people can't do that.

So the benefit of that tax break goes to those with higher income. When I told friends that my wife and I can do this because we both have high incomes, they are blown away.

Most of them don't know that each year, I get a raise, when my salary passes the Social Security cap. They pay SS tax on 100% of their income, and I don't.

I have some stocks that pay dividends. And those are taxed at 15%. So if I make 10k in dividends, and a blue collar worker friend makes 10k moving furniture, his 10k gets taxed at a higher rate.

So I get a couple nice tax breaks ... but I'm sure that Mitt's tax return would blow ME away.

I suspect that he can create a shell corporation in the Caymans, "invest" in it ... and then manage the money such that he pays little to no taxes. That money becomes part of his estate. It goes into tax deferred trusts. And it will pass with almost no tax to his heirs. And they will never touch that money either.

All legal. But if the average American got to see his returns, they'd flip out.

Ummm...I have some breaking news for you, Steve.

IT WAS NOT A POSSIBLE TRICK!

It was a CHEAT!

It's common knowledge that one of the more useful things Senator Phil "Nation of Whiners" Gramm did was to gut the funding for the IRS, so that the first people they had to lay off were the more highly paid AUDITORS who specialize in HIGH INCOME TAX RETURNS. Ever since then, you've been much more likely to get audited if you're middle class, and the auditor is likely to find $3000 owing rather than $300 000, and you're not likely to FIGHT BACK with an army of Tax Lawyers that are already in your employ!

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/gop-war-on-irs-costs-us-billions



We'll add that to the list of reasons Phil Gramm is one of the biggest sleazebags in the history of U.S. politics:

1. Removing Glass-Steagal and setting the stage for the Economic implosion of 2008 by writing and passing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and the Commodity Futures Modernization Acts in 1999 and 2000, and ramming them through Congress as veto proof omnibus bills.

2. Gutting funding for the IRS so that they can no longer afford to audit the Tax Returns of rich people, and

3. Once finished with U.S. Politics, showed what he REALLY thinks of the United States by pissing off to Switzerland to work for the Swiss Banks, and facilitate wealthy people like Mitt Romney in their efforts to avoid paying taxes in America by stashing their money in Swiss Bank Accounts.

Did I miss anything?

I think a lot of his money people don't want them release either.

If it shows creative accounting and investments which allowed him to basically not pay anything in the way of taxes, just think what his investors are thinking?

Once that can of worms is opened, the party is over for the rich who wish to continue skating free of paying taxes.