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Author Topic: American Election Megathread - It's Over  (Read 688175 times)

palsch

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5625 on: September 21, 2012, 05:15:46 pm »

Regarding Mitt's taxes, it's worth noting that that is an arbitrary rate that he effectively chose, with the option to pay less in the future.

From the NYT coverage;
Quote
Mr. Romney, who made millions by running Bain Capital, a private equity firm, paid an effective federal tax rate of 14.1 percent in taxes, primarily because most of his income was in the form of capital gains that are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. Mr. Romney has said that he has paid at least 13 percent in federal income taxes in each of the last 10 years.

In order for that claim to be true in 2011, Mr. Romney had to voluntarily take a smaller deduction than he was entitled to for his charitable deductions, his advisers said Friday.
Quote
Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, donated about $4 million to charity in 2011, but claimed only $2.25 million as a deduction. The campaign said that Mr. Romney’s tax liability would have been far lower in 2011 had the Romneys claimed the full deduction for their charitable contributions.

“The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years,” said R. Bradford Malt, Mr. Romney’s trustee.

It is possible, however, that Mr. Romney could still deduct the unclaimed amount of his charitable donations in future tax years, experts said.
So he has a $1.75M deduction he can put towards the first year he isn't running for anything.


Unrelated, just saw this [.pdf] from one of Obama's campaign staff on twitter. The short version; is they are raising expectations for Romney to handle himself well in the debates while wanting to focus on specifics and issues.
Quote
Mitt Romney made up for a lackluster campaign by performing well in debates – he bragged that Time Magazine said he won 16 out of 20 primary debates, his campaign says he “dominated” them, and he says that he can “debate darn well and take it to the President.”  With weeks of debate prep, including an entire week during the Democratic Convention, he’s obviously banking on flawless performances in October to achieve the turnaround his campaign has projected.  But Americans won’t score this contest on style points alone.  They want to know who has the better plan to create good-paying, sustainable jobs for the middle class in the future.  Mitt Romney has yet to explain how returning to the same policies that resulted in the economic crisis will do anything but further erode the economic security of middle class families.  And on issue after he has yet to provide details beyond the platitudes and attacks on exactly what he would do to move this country forward.
This kind of thing is mostly directed at the media and campaign proxies to help shape the narrative around the debates.
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mainiac

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5626 on: September 21, 2012, 06:55:52 pm »

He could even revise his taxes on November 7th and get a refund for the government, although he probably will lose some money doing that compared to just getting maximum deductions from the start.

On another subject, here's an article discussing an interesting poll on whether voters think Obama helped compared to if he wasn't president: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/21/the-poll-result-that-explains-the-election/
About a million people on the internet and newspaper columnists have argued about if Obama gets the blame for the bad economy.  It's kinda surprising that there aren't too many polls about it.  This question does a much better job explaining the presidential race polls then most economic question polls.
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da_nang

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5627 on: September 22, 2012, 03:20:58 am »

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5628 on: September 22, 2012, 08:13:29 am »

Sir, you have made my day. xD!
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GreatJustice

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5629 on: September 22, 2012, 09:25:45 am »

Mitt wasn't a terribly good debater, its just that the only other candidates the media gave serious attention to were either totally nuts (Bachmann) or sounded outright retarded (Perry). Herman Cain was able to put him on the ropes, and he was practically running a troll campaign! Those few who had the depth of knowledge to actually take on Mitt were either largely ignored or were unwilling to do so.
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palsch

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5630 on: September 22, 2012, 11:51:08 am »


Marginally more serious;
Romeny isn't qualified to be president under his own standards.
Quote
    I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president. I’d think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires.
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The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2012, 11:59:46 am by palsch »
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kaijyuu

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5631 on: September 22, 2012, 12:00:47 pm »

What the fuck? Paying more taxes than required is somehow a bad thing?
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palsch

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5632 on: September 22, 2012, 12:45:14 pm »

What the fuck? Paying more taxes than required is somehow a bad thing?
It was a specific attack on Obama. There were some suggestions that he hadn't taken the maximum deductions possible in the years he earned most. Given that Obama claimed he does his own taxes and isn't a tax accountant that wouldn't surprise me, at least the idea that he didn't optimise his deductibles. A few conservative sites suggested this showed poor financial management from Obama and that he shouldn't be trusted with the American economy.

I'm not sure if Romney was responding specifically to that or if it started as a defence of his low tax rate that was then used as a hammer against Obama, but the idea did gain some traction at the time.
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Dutchling

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5633 on: September 22, 2012, 12:55:32 pm »

What the fuck? Paying more taxes than required is somehow a bad thing?
I'd say it is if you sell yourself as a president who knows everything about the economy. Who the hell would pay more taxes if he could pay less?
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Zangi

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5634 on: September 22, 2012, 01:07:49 pm »

What the fuck? Paying more taxes than required is somehow a bad thing?
I'd say it is if you sell yourself as a president who knows everything about the economy. Who the hell would pay more taxes if he could pay less?
I'm pretty sure Romney doesn't even do his own taxes and would do no betterworse then Obama if he did.
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palsch

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5635 on: September 22, 2012, 01:15:19 pm »

There is also the element where, "more taxes than you owe," actually means not optimising your deductions or making the best choices to pay less tax on what you make. There is a difference between calculating what you owe on what you earn and taking deliberate steps to owe less on that same income.

Depending on the audience the latter is good fiscal sense or tax avoidance. And that's mostly what we are talking about here.
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Leafsnail

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5636 on: September 22, 2012, 01:16:38 pm »

What the fuck? Paying more taxes than required is somehow a bad thing?
I'd say it is if you sell yourself as a president who knows everything about the economy. Who the hell would pay more taxes if he could pay less?
Someone who gives a damn about the country?
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Euld

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5637 on: September 22, 2012, 01:40:38 pm »

I'd pay more taxes, honestly.  Unless I was living paycheck to paycheck that is.  And assuming those taxes went to useful things like decreasing the federal debt 'n such.

palsch

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Re: American Election Megathread
« Reply #5638 on: September 22, 2012, 02:30:25 pm »

So there is a West Wing reunion that is also a campaign ad.

It comes both in non-candidate and candidate supporting forms.

Short version; Mary McCormack's sister, Bridget Mary McCormack, is running for State Supreme Court. These are non-partisan races so you don't run as part of a party, even if they are really. As such people who vote for a party line don't cast a vote in these races even if they meant to.

Long version; it's a fucking West Wing reunion. Just watch it.
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