It's hard work.

He was clear that he was talking about exempting interest, dividends, and capital gains from taxes for those who earn less than $200,000 a year. Claiming otherwise only would allow him to spotlight his claim that he's seeking to lower taxes for the middle class. His claims of being a friend to the middle class are bullshit, so we shouldn't help him by highlighting one small proposal that appears to help some low and mid level taxpayers who have some small investments that produce dividends or interest.

it is a very significant proposal that enormously favors the wealthy -- Romney himself being an excellent example.

How much income do middle-class folks have in interest and dividends? The only time they would benefit from the capital gains portion is when selling a house.

The proposal is aimed specifically at those who earn less than $200,000.

I've made less than $200,000 a lot of years, but because of some investments made on my behalf by my parents when I was younger, I've generally had some dividend and interest income to report. Not paying taxes on that income would definitely impact my bottom line if that was the only change that was made. Of course, cutting home mortgage, charitable and other deductions would probably more than offset the benefit that I'd get from the exemption on interest and dividend income.

So, the reason its a lame offer by Romney is not that it benefits him and other wealthy individuals (it doesn't), its that taken together with his other proposals, it doesn't really give those with less than $200,000 in income much of a benefit.

They need all that extra money to create jobs. Jobs like washing their yachts, or raising their kids, you know real jobs, jobs women can do.