Mitt is not going away, perhaps because the competitive field looks so bland (Daniels or Pawlenty) or crazy-ideological (the list is too long). So, folks, we need to see Mitt’s tax return. And since he won’t disclose it, I will attempt, as a CPA, to reconstruct it in plain English. If his wealth did NOT come from these basics, then his CPAs are incompetent (and my bet is they are not).
Let me first note that I grew up as a George Romney Republican, and I still remember him fondly. The scholarship programs he set up paid for my education, and his strong manufacturing policies got me a first-rung job in the auto industry. But George didn’t survive his truth-telling about Vietnam, and he certainly would be tea-partied out on a rail today.
So, back to Mitt, who has used several very profitable tax preferences to the personal benefit of hundreds of millions of dollars over the years. Some of these are available to the general public, but in forms that save most of us, by design, maybe hundreds of dollars. The best way to get these preferences through Congress historically has been to give many taxpayers a sop, while giving the big money contributors a far better return on their investment in campaign contributions.
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