Romney : How to tell the truth and bullshit America at the same time.

LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER, LIER. Well technically no.

Mitt Romney's quote from the Huffington Post article.

" ... I did go back and look at my taxes and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent. I think the most recent year is 13.6 or something like that. So I paid taxes every single year."

Yes he has. Every year, but what Mr Romney is not telling you is that he uses tax loopholes (known by the rich and many in congress) and keeps money and other assets (IRAs) in the Cayman Islands (an infamous country to use to avoid taxes because of its lack of taxes and strict secrecy laws) and elsewhere to avoid paying the 'fair share' that the rest of us pay.

You may now commence laughing.

Mr Romney does not cheat on his taxes, no he does not. But because he has money he can hire 'Smart People' who know the ins and outs of domestic and international personal finance. These smart people advise Mr Romney as to where and how to manage his money so that he pays the least amount of taxes possible. If you or I had the kind of money he has, we could afford this same advice. So when he say he has paid all the taxes that he should hes correct.

Line 43 ( Taxable Income ) from Mr Romney's 2010 Tax return was $17,120,067. According to the Tax Policy Center's data Mr Romney should have paid in excess of 35% of his taxable income in taxes ... big surprise, HE DID NOT.

To Simplify that. If he handled his money and did his taxes like 99 % of Americans he would have paid $5,992,023 in taxes, not the $3,009,766 that shows as his taxes due ( line 60 on his 2010 return ). Hummm that looks a little funny to me ... about half of what he should have paid ... again with the 'Smart People' he has watching his money for him ... Nice.

So there you have it ... hard numbers do not lie. You can draw whatever conclusion you want from them, but they are there and true.

Other tidbits : Laugh Track

If Mr Romney was an average American the tax rate he claims to have paid, 13.6% would seem to indicate that he makes between $40K and $50K per year. Even at the 15% rate quoted in the link below he would make between $50K and $75K per year. Either way its ridiculous.

The above info seems to show that Mr Romney is one of the 1% Americans ... OK that was not actually funny.

Mitt's first name is Willard ... wasn't that a rat who Micheal Jackson befriended and then later killed people ... Just saying.

Links :

How Mitt compares to the rest of us on taxes

The Tax Policy Center

Mitt Romney's Tax rate is 15%

Mr Romney's net worth about $200 Million


UPDATE : See 'Romney : How to tell the truth and bullshit America at the same time - II' for a supporting article to my assertions in this one