President Obama is seeking an Aug. 1 deadline for overhauling the tax code and making changes to expensive federal health programs, the final pieces of what the administration conceives as a far-reaching plan to rein in the national debt, senior administration officials said Friday. [...]
To ensure that Congress acts by Aug. 1, Obama is proposing to delay automatic spending cuts only through that date. The so-called sequester would then act as a new trigger to force congressional action. Delaying the sequester for eight months would cost about $80 billion, officials said. They recommended covering that cost with new spending cuts and tax hikes, but did not specify which ones.
As for changes to Medicare and Medicaid, some of the savings would come from higher premiums for high-income beneficiaries.
Via DemRapidResponse from an interview with Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday.
“There was no reduction – not one dollar reduction in taxes — by virtue of having an account in Switzerland or a Cayman Islands investment.”
“The conduct of the trustee in making investments was entirely consistent with U.S. law and all the taxes paid were those legally owed and there was no tax savings by virtue of those entities.”
“I could have said, ‘Don’t make any investments in any foreign companies, in any foreign bonds, in any foreign currency, only U.S. entities. And by the way, don’t buy any foreign products, don’t have any Japanese TVs, or foreign cars.’ I could have done that.”
Yes, you could have done that.
We interrupt this post for a Willard Whopper Alert! Incoming! The majorest of major whoppers in 5… 4… 3… 2…
“But you know, I did live my life and I expect that by virtue of disclosing all of these things, people can take look at it and see whether that’s something they’re comfortable with or not. I’m not going to try to hide who I am and try and manipulate my life to try and avoid the truth.”
As I said in a previous post, media, will you please take Rachel Maddow up on her request to insist that Mitt Romney (and Paul Ryan) give us some straight answers? Or “do you just write down what they say?”
“It’s not what they say, it’s about what they’ve done. And when what they say is some distance from what they’ve done, that distance is the story. This is what the press is for.”
Speaking of lies:
“Their campaign is trying to find something to say, ‘Gee, hey, he had a Swiss bank account,’ which apparently was done by the blind trustee. I mean, I had no involvement in this, but the blind trust said we’re going to have some currencies, U.S. currency and some in foreign currency, that tends to be something which investors do. But they’re trying to make that seem like it is some kind of unsavory action and frankly all of the taxes are paid exactly as owed and there were no tax savings by virtue of having that vehicle.”
“I had no involvement in this, but the blind trust said…” So now blind trusts can speak?
Blind trusts are people, too my friend.
Hypocrites can certainly speak. Remember this, Willard?
Coupon Paul Ryan is right up there with LaDeeDa Willard Romney when it comes to displaying a sense of entitlement and outward disdaintoward voters. And just like Willard, Coupon Paul is only releasing two years of tax returns (although Willard has really only released part of his 2010 return and an estimate of 2011). And again, like Romney, he’s paying a lower rate than most middle class families do. And yet they want us to pay more so they can pay less.
And Paul Ryan has assured us that he’s limiting his disclosures to a measly two years as well, even though he submitted several years of returns when he was being vetted by Team Romney.
Paul Ryan and his wife Janna paid an effective tax rate of 15.9% in 2010 and 20% in 2011, according to tax returns provided by the Romney-Ryan campaign to the Journal Sentinel Friday. [...]
[T]he couple also earned significant outside income from dividends, capital gains, real estate and other sources. … [T]he Ryans’ investments include several companies that lease land and mineral rights to energy companies. [...]
The Ryans filed a corrected return in 2011 after their original return understated their income by $61,122.
The last thing Romney and Ryan want is to give us “more ammunition.”
It was similar to my own response, which included wanting to know why we’re “small minded” for asking him to explain why he thinks he’s so good at handling finances, especially considering all that boasting about his business background.
And why he would look down on “you people” for wanting him to prove whether or not he’s telling the truth… because he lies so often.
And why he’d take offense at us peons for wondering how he gets away with paying less than we do.
And why he’d balk at us for wondering if he may have avoided felony charges by being granted amnesty.
In short, Willard, why should we believe you? How do you have the unmitigated gall to say, “trust me” when we have absolutely no reason to? What are you hiding?
“We’ll believe it when we see it. Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans will continue to wonder what he’s hiding. Romney seems to think he plays by a different set of rules than every other presidential candidate for the last thirty years, all of whom lived up to the standard of transparency set by Mitt Romney’s father and released their tax returns,” Reid spokesman Adam Jentleson told Buzzfeed in a statement Thursday.
Yesterday Ann Romney got a little icybristled snarled when she was asked about hubby Willard’s tax returns. Now hubby himself is clearly feeling the heat, because he sees that this is not going away any time soon.
“Given the challenges that America faces – 23 million people out of work, Iran about to become nuclear, one out of six Americans in poverty, the fascination with the taxes I paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues we face,” Romney told reporters gathered for a press conference at the Greer airport in South Carolina, where Romney had just arrived to attend a fundraiser.
“I did go back and look at my taxes, and, over the past 10 years, I never paid less than 13 percent,” he said, later adding: “Every year, I paid at least 13 percent, and if you add in, in addition, the amount that goes to charity, the number gets well above 20 percent.”
So we’re “small minded” for asking him to explain why he thinks he’s so good at handling finances, especially considering all that boasting about his business background. We’re “small minded” for wanting him to prove whether or not he’s telling the truth. We’re “small minded” for wondering how he gets away with paying less than the so many of us. We’re “small minded” for wondering if he may have avoided felony charges by being granted amnesty (see video). How dare we even think that this is important?!
“We have been very transparent to what’s legally required of us.” And by “transparent” you mean releasing one incomplete 2010 return and one 2011 estimate… And how about what’s ethically required of you?
“Mitt is honest. His integrity is just golden.”So now she’s lying about all of Willard‘s lies. That deserves some kind of Wiki entry. By the way, “golden” was an interesting choice of words from someone who’s worth millions.
“It will just give them more ammunition.”If Willard can’t confront challenges to his own record, how would he ever be able to deal with the onslaught of crises that hit the White House on a regular basis, not to mention the constant scrutiny and criticism?
“There’s nothing we’re hiding.”Sorry, Ann, but that statement doesn’t even begin to pass the ol’ smell test. Actually, it was downright insulting. And/or laughable.
Yesterday I started getting tweets from @USTaxAttorney in response to my post about a Bain investor who said, “Harry, [Mitt Romney] didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years.”. I don’t follow or know “Alvin S. Brown, Esq.”, and he doesn’t follow me. He tweeted me (and I noticed he was tweeting every prominent journalist on Twitter on the left and the right) about some legal way that Sen. Harry Reid could access Willard M. Romney’s tax returns, but there were no details. He said something about more news coming out today:
Whether Senator Reid has a Bain contact or not, Governor Romney’s tax returns are likely in the possession of Senator Reid under the authority of Section 6103(f) of the IRS code. [...]
Section 6103(f) of the Internal Revenue Code expressly permits inspection of returns by the House Ways and Means Committee, Senate Finance Committee, and Joint Committee on Taxation, and also permits inspection by any select Committee of Senate or House, or joint committee authorized by legislative resolution to investigate returns. [...]
The Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is expressly authorized to request any tax return. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is required to comply with a request for specific tax returns from any of those designated with that authority under the section 6103(f) statute. The ease with which the Romney returns can be requested from the IRS from an authorized source under section 6103(f) makes it the likely that those tax returns are under review by that authorized source, in the opinion of Tax Attorney Alvin S. Brown.Mr. Brown speculates that the allegations that Governor Romney did not pay taxes for a 10 year period may be valid in part based on the ease of access for those returns by a host of members of Congress, including Senator Reid. Mr. Brown notes also that the attribution for that information from a Bain informant may not be accurate. Mr. Brown suggests that public knowledge that the tax returns of Governor Romney were requested by a person authorized to receive those tax returns would likely be perceived by the public and the media as an unfair breach of trust.
At this point, IMHO, it’s more important that Harry Reid made a smart political move by putting Willard’s tax returns front and center for several more news cycles just as interest was beginning to wane. Attention to the inequities in our tax code and the coddling of the wealthy at the expense of the poor and middle class are more important than the rumors. But if it took a rumor to alert a sleepy electorate to who Romney is, so be it.
Reid can take the heat (in fact, he relishes it), but Mitt can’t. His dodges and weaves, nervous laughter and lies speak volumes about his (lack of) character. Voters need to become aware of that and much more before November.
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