The tax return from 2011 that Mitt Romney released yesterday shows that he passed up taking all the charitable deductions he could have taken advantage of to lower his tax rate.
Romney gives Dem support for tax deductions claim
By TOM RAUM, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Mitt Romney has given Democrats plenty of support for their claim he manipulated his deductions to keep his overall 2011 federal income tax rate above a certain threshold for political purposes.
In August Mitt asserted that he paid at least a 13% rate of income tax over the past 10 years.
Had he taken the full charitable deduction last year, it would have pushed his tax liability below 13 percent.
This left Mitt in a quandary. Which of his previous previous statements should he contradict.
Romney probably also will be reminded by the Democrats by something else he said in August. Defending his right to pay no more taxes than he owed, he said, "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."
The decision of Romney's trustee to limit the use of charitable deductions in 2011 in order to adhere to the candidate's claim raised the eyebrows of several tax law experts. They noted that the trustee's use of numerous tax strategies gives Romney the rare ability to loosen or limit his tax payments at will.
So by Romney's own standards, his forgoing all the available deductions available to reduce his tax rate, Mitt showed a lack of fiduciary self-intest that should disqualify him for the presidency!
OK if you say so Mitt.