The Romneys beat our family at almost every economic measure, except one!
IRS audits in the the last 10 years!
We are beating the pants off of them at getting audited.
Woo. Hoo.
A little back story, my husband is an actor. A working actor. You have seen him on the tee vee. Probably. You don't know his name. Probably.
A couple things about being a working actor -- your income is very, shall we say, quixotic. And you have a lot of deductions, which make up a relatively large proportion of your income.
Union dues in 3 Unions (now 2 since the SAG-Aftra merger) 10% to agents, and for my husband 5-15% for manager on top of that, over the years. Add to that job-hunting expenses (this makes up the lion's share of a working actors yearly "work" time. ) And it's already quite high before you add the cost of home ownership in a high tax area (NYC or SoCal).
As a result these deductions send up a "red flag" to the IRS. And I am not aggressive in seeking deductions, unlike (ahem) some people.
In the last 10 years we have been solidly middle class.
We have been audited twice.
Now if you have ever been audited, you know it is a hassle and a half. Even if you have your accountant go to the audit (which we did the time I was very pregnant and my husband was working out of town when the audit was scheduled) you have to spend time and energy and then PAY your accountant. Then you get "no change".
Because, you know, you took only conservative, well-considered deductions...
But you are out all the time you spent gathering documentation meeting with your accountant -- and the money you pay on the accountant.
Thanks IRS! We can afford that!
Or the next time when they request a "Schedule A Audit By Mail". A whole new circle of fun.
You make copies of REAMS of papers, because if they deem it insufficient you will have another in person audit. And send it off. The date when they tell you they will tell you the outcome passes...eventually they send a letter saying they are still working on it. Couple months and another delay letter. Finally a letter saying that they are satisfied and will send our documents back under a different cover...which never arrive.
Cool IRS, nice to know lots of personal financial data is just floating around...somewhere.
Now lets contrast this to the Romneys.
They have so much money, nobody can even give an exact number as to how much.
They have all sorts of, er, interesting, homes for this money.
They are self-reportedly VERY aggressive with their deductions (Cuz, you know, why would the American people want a president who didn't take every possible deduction, right Mitt?)
They have both been on record saying they don't really read their returns -- how could they possibly know what is in those returns they sign under threat of perjury?
And in the last 10 years, they have not been audited once.
So I have a question for the IRS-- what income level do we have to achieve before we deactivate those red flags that keep sending the pesky IRS auditors after us?
Just wondering.
But, you know, we are winning.