Romney's tithing

[SoonerCoug]

So he made about 45 million last year, and he paid 6.2 million in taxes. Did he pay tithing on his net or his gross?

[myboynoah]

So he made about 45 million last year, and he paid 6.2 million in taxes. Did he pay tithing on his net or his gross?

Does it matter?

[il Padrino Ute]

So he made about 45 million last year, and he paid 6.2 million in taxes. Did he pay tithing on his net or his gross?

Why is that any of your business?

[CJF]

So he made about 45 million last year, and he paid 6.2 million in taxes. Did he pay tithing on his net or his gross?

Your numbers are off. He earned $42.6 million combined for 2010 and 2011. He paid $4.1 million to the LDS Church over that same time. Close enough for me to consider he paid gross.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...UMQ_print.html

[il Padrino Ute]

Your numbers are off. He earned $42.6 million combined for 2010 and 2011. He paid $4.1 million to the LDS Church over that same time. Close enough for me to consider he paid gross.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...UMQ_print.html

From your link:

Economic inequality is emerging as a central theme in the battle for the White House, with Obama trying to harness populist anger at Wall Street and corporations against a backdrop of chronically high unemployment. He plans to call for higher taxes on millionaires in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, embracing an idea advanced by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Unemployment that is higher today than when Obamao was sworn in as POTUS. The country can thank him and his relentless incompetence for those numbers.

[Uncle Ted]

Unemployment that is higher today than when Obamao was sworn in as POTUS. The country can thank him and his relentless incompetence for those numbers.

[off the topic but what the hell...]

Yes, Obama is clueless when it comes to creating private sector jobs. In a recent NYT article Steve Jobs schooled Obama about the facts of life...

Not long ago, Apple boasted that its products were made in America. Today, few are. Almost all of the 70 million iPhones, 30 million iPads and 59 million other products Apple sold last year were manufactured overseas.

Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.

Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.

The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.

Clearly Obama doesn't have a clue by asking this question.

In this month's Communications of the ACM (a profession journal for geeks like me) there is a good article that explains how apple creates high paying jobs here in the US while off-loading the jobs americans really don't want to places like china...

(Sorry, unless you are a member of the ACM you won't be able to view the full article.)

Enter University of California, Irvine business professor Ken Kraemer who has led a series of far-reaching investigations into how Apple's products are made. The team's findings, as detailed in "Capturing Value in Global Networks: Apple's iPad and iPhone," not only shed light on the intricacies of the modern high-tech value chain, but they may also hold important lessons for managers and policymakers trying to chart the future course of U.S. industry.

The team's analysis reveals that while most Apple components are indeed manufactured abroad—pre-dominantly in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan—the economic benefit accrues overwhelmingly to Apple. So, while each iPad tablet computer sold contributes a theoretical $275 to the U.S. trade deficit, that transaction comes with enormous benefits to Apple's employees, share-holders, distribution partners, and, by extension, the rest of the U.S. economy.

While the devices may be assembled in China, that country accrues surprisingly little economic benefit. No iPad or iPhone components are actually manufactured in China, and as little as $10 from each sale goes to Chinese firms, primarily by way of wages paid to workers on the assembly line.

[...]


What lessons can managers derive from this analysis? First and foremost, the study calls into question the received political wisdom that reviving manufacturing will pave the way back to economic prosperity. For all the Sturm und Drang around the U.S.'s eroding manufacturing base, the real economic value of high-tech manufacturing and assembly jobs may be quite limited.

[...]

"Those who decry the decline of U.S. manufacturing too often point at the offshoring of assembly for electronics goods like the iPhone," the authors conclude. "There is simply little value in electronics assembly."

[Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.]

[DrumNFeather]

Why is that any of your business?

Romney should be able to say "I report it to salt lake, it's none of the finance clerk's or the bishop's busniess...and it damn sure isn't the American people's business either."

[All-American]

Why is that any of your business?

It's a family matter.

[Surfah]

Romney should be able to say "I report it to salt lake, it's none of the finance clerk's or the bishop's busniess...and it damn sure isn't the American people's business either."

Yeah for a group (speaking generally) that hates that their financial clerk can infer their salary or hates giving an accounting (yes/no) to the Bishop at the end of the year I find it weird that we're scrutinizing another member's tithing contributions.

[myboynoah]

Yeah for a group (speaking generally) that hates that their financial clerk can infer their salary or hates giving an accounting (yes/no) to the Bishop at the end of the year I find it weird that we're scrutinizing another member's tithing contributions.

They've got their stones well in hand.

[SoonerCoug]

Romney clearly paid less than 10% gross. Not even debatable. I think this is the reason he didn't want his records released.

[UtahDan]

Yeah for a group (speaking generally) that hates that their financial clerk can infer their salary or hates giving an accounting (yes/no) to the Bishop at the end of the year I find it weird that we're scrutinizing another member's tithing contributions.

I can see why people care. What if he was paying none? What if he was giving 90%? Those facts would each tell you something. The fact that he is doing about what is expected tells you something too. I don't have a dog in that fight but I can see why others would.

[myboynoah]

I can see why people care. What if he was paying none? What if he was giving 90%? Those facts would each tell you something. The fact that he is doing about what is expected tells you something too. I don't have a dog in that fight but I can see why others would.

Of course people care. They just don't like people caring when it's their private matters.

[RC Vikings]

So he made about 45 million last year, and he paid 6.2 million in taxes. Did he pay tithing on his net or his gross?

This sounds like a cougarboard question. You can do better than that.

[jay santos]

I think the problem here is not that he paid so much tithing, but the ratio.

I'm sure paying $45M to a heretical church makes Evangelicals very uneasy, but it can kind of be explained.

The ratio of paying $45M to $6.2M taxes is what is going to kill him. (If I understand this correctly). It means you can extrapolate out that he made $450M income during this time period and paid 1.4% tax on it. It makes people feel like he's not playing by the same rules. Hell it makes me a little pissed off, and I'm all for the government allowing people to make a lot of money in this country.

I don't think the gross vs net argument is going to go very far, here. Gross vs net is the guy on CB making $80K a year who gets $1,000 taken out of every paycheck for withholdings.

edit: nvm read the article and the mention of $4.1M paid to church. Sooner, where the hell did you come up with the $45M number?

edit2: wow, serious reading comprehension fail. and sorry for blaming it on you, Sooner. not enough caffeine this morning.