Romney says he paid at least 13% in taxes for last ten years

[Contrary1]

Yeah; Mitt, we have something in common. I paid at least 13% in taxes over the last 10 years too. However, I didn't realize that donating to a charity counted as paying taxes.

I can't believe how stupid this man is.

Greer, South Carolina (CNN) – Mitt Romney has paid no less than 13% in personal income taxes over the past ten years, he said Thursday.

The presumptive GOP nominee has faced withering criticism from Democrats over the release of his tax returns, including a charge by Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid that Romney had paid no taxes for a ten year period. Reid did not specify if those were the last ten years, or an earlier period.

"I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past ten years I never paid less than 13%. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. I paid taxes every single year," Romney said, explaining he had gone back to check his records after being asked by a reporter about the tax rates he had paid. "Harry Reid's charge is totally false. I am sure waiting for Harry to put up who it was that told him what he says they told him – I don't believe it for a minute by the way – but every year I paid at least 13% and if you add in addition the amount that goes to charity, why, the number gets well above 20%."

More: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/16/romney-says-he-paid-at-least-13-in-taxes-for-last-ten-years/comment-page-1/#comments

[No Elephants]

1. Hmm. Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out that neither of the Romneys used the words income tax

O'Donnell was saying only last night that both Mitt and Ann Romney have been saying simply "taxes," which could mean sales tax, excise tax, payroll taxes that an employer pays and so on. No reference to "personal income" when they mention the tax or taxes that Romney paid.

So, which commentator is either sloppy, fooled or trying to deceive the public?

O'Donnell is also speculating that one of the things that the returns would show is that Romney was not reporting those Swiss bank accounts and took advantage of the amnesty that the IRS offered relatively recently.

There is a problem with getting too specific, though. If anyone pokes a whole in the specific charge, the whole thing goes away. i give you Dan Rather and his justified margins of supposedly Vietnam Era documents. (Not blaming Rather here. I full believe those documents were planted and he later proved the info in them was accurate. Still, he was shit canned and no one ever again mentioned President AWOL's draft dodging, refusal to take a drug test, lack of service, etc.)

Obviously, Romney is hiding something that he thinks will affect how some voters vote. And that is all the more reason why American voters deserves to see the returns. And, they should have reservations about voting for someone who won't show them.

That is what I would drum in.