Now that I know for sure that Romney paid $0 taxes for ten years, I feel dumb for having paid mine.
I am such a rube.
I knew that I was paying a really high tax rate for years and years.
As far as the government is concerned, I'm single. (The Federal government does not recognize our union or our family.) I rent an apartment. I don't have any dependents. I live and work in New York City, which means that my income is smack in the middle when adjusted for cost of living, but fairly high when compared to the national median.
I use Turbo Tax and I basically just pay the amount it tells me to pay. I don't have a tax strategy. I just ... kind of ... pay it.
I've had some co-workers bragging about various things that they do to lower their taxes. But to me, it just seemed like a lot of hard work to figure out. Anyway, I don't mind paying. I like the services that I get from the government and I always felt like I'd like to be able to take advantage of the safety net if I needed it.
Besides, I see lots of people every day who haven't had the advantages that I have had, or are at stages of life where they need assistance from society at large -- kids, for example, and old people. I want my tax money to go to them.
If I had my way, I'd like government to guarantee housing and nutrition to every household with a family member under 18 or over 65.
But I feel kind of dumb now.
Here is Mitt Romney, putatively worth about $250 million, though widely acknowledged to have several billion hidden away in off-shore bank accounts ...
And he's paying $0 in Federal taxes a year.
Do I need to explain this?
He's one of the richest people in the country and he didn't make a penny's worth of contributions for ten years toward the greater good.
And all that time, I was paying my taxes, just like required.
How foolish was I?