Mitt Romney said in a press conference Thursday that he's never paid less than 13 percent on taxes in the past 10 years, and labelled continued calls for him to release his returns "small-minded."
But there are still a lot of questions about Romney's finances, and about that number, that have gone unanswered. On PoliticsNation, Rev. Al Sharpton got into a few of them.
The Romney campaign confirmed to The Washington Post that Romney was referring only to federal income taxes, in using the 13 percent number. But Rebecca Wilkins, of the Citizens for Tax Justice, explained to Sharpton that Romney also potentially has income that wouldn't show up on tax returns.
"There's a lot of types of income that aren't taxable, that don't show up on your income tax returns, income earned by an Individual Retirement Account for one," she said. "We know from his financial disclosure forms that his IRA has at least $20 million and maybe as much as $102 million, and all of the earnings on that is not being taxed."
In addition, as Sharpton asked: How are Romney's tax shelters set up, and how much income does he have in those off-shore accounts that has not been taxed at all?
And as ThinkProgress points out, there are also questions about what kinds of deductions Romney takes that could drive down his tax rate. In the past, for example, the Romneys have claimed Ann Romney's Olympic-qualifying horse as a business, and received a tax deduction.
And of course, there's the simplest and most compelling question of all: If there really is nothing to hide, why not just release the returns already?
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As for Rom's returns (or lack of), all we need is an IRS insider. Come out, come out all ye whistle blowers!
Whether he paid 13% for most of his life it is still not enough. He is a liar and he is hiding something and until he releases his taxes NO ONE SHOULD EVEN CONSIDER VOTING FOR THIS SLOB.
While the emphasis is definitely on Romney's tax returns, there's a far more interesting item that might be even more intriguing to many.
In the to-do about Romney's taxes, there's this little side note:
IRAs were created to provide Americans a tax advantage to help ensure they had a modest amount of money to retire on. In 2008, the average IRA had a fair market value of $67,545.
Mitt’s IRA has a value of more than $100 million, according to his 2010 tax return...
Given that yearly IRA contributions are limited to between $2,000 and $6,000 over the past twenty years, how did Romney amass a $100 million plus IRA?
Some suggestions or ideas about how he achieved this would be nice... anyone?
When he said 13% taxes, he didn't say federal taxes. It could be any type of taxes. Maybe he added all the taxes he has to pay. Sales,boats, homes, travel, luxury ? JUST SAYING!