Somehow or other Mitt Romney has outlasted questions about his tax returns, specifically the ones he refuses to share. Meanwhile his tax 'plan' involves something with dropping rates to 20% for everyone (still above the 14% he claims to have paid) and closing loopholes - unspecified - to make up the revenue shortfall. The math doesn't add up, it has never added up, and it never will add up - but that's not what I'm wondering about here.
I'm wondering about tithing, how much income Romney is actually deducting as contributions to his church, and what might happen under his 'plan'. Would he limit the amount of the deduction for charitable giving to religion? By how much? If Romney tithed the traditional 10%, would that mean he'd only be paying 10% to the Federal government after deducting it?
And how much is he actually contributing? Has anyone looked at how much he's taken deductions for in the limited tax info he's revealed? There have been charges Romney has not released his other tax returns because they'd show he has had years where he's paid no income taxes at all - on millions in income. But what if that's not the only question to ask?
What if Romney has been skimping on contributions to his church? What if the Bishop has been playing by one set of rules for himself, and another set for ordinary Mormons? The elders of his church would presumably know. Are they keeping quiet to further his political career - or is it a given for a hierarchy that habitually does not answer to its members to give wealthier, powerful members some slack on this?
What would happen to his base among the faithful if they found out their man has been stiffing the church (with or without its complicity) and they've been making up the difference all these years? Why does it seem likely that that is the pattern of behavior we should expect to find? And if he's planning on changing deductions (or not) for religious giving, how will that affect the contributions of people of other faith?
This is all speculation, needless to say, and remain so as long as Romney refuses to release more tax returns. BUT - if he's going to be proposing all kinds of changes to deductions, isn't that all the more reason to know what he personally has been doing all these years?