Romney's Tithing

[UtahDan]

Cali Coug is also very cynical like that and rightfully so! The American people deserve to know details about the investments made by his blind trust and how much he pays in tithing.

It's so important when every day people in this country are struggling to put food on the table, wondering when they'll get their next paycheck and hoping they'll find a job. When national debt is skyrocketing, the dollar is plummeting and our entitlement structure is on the brink of collapse, it is essential that we talk about Mitt Romney's tax returns! I know Mitt Romney has never been accused of abusing political power or seeking to manipulate public funds for the benefit of himself or his friends and he's fully followed all disclosure law, but dammit we need to know what he has in his Swiss and Cayman Island bank accounts! Maybe it's a bank sack with a gun, stacks of unmarked cash and multiple passports like in the Bourne movies. Or maybe it's just a key to another safe deposit box that nobody even knows about, not even Ann Romney. Who knows? We can only speculate.

The bottom line is that when you run for President, most of your life becomes public. It is not unfair for people to want to see for themselves that his extensive financial life has been on the up and up. Now, you are right that there is not even a whiff of malfeasance on his part and I have no reason to think there is anything illegal in there. But hasn't ample experience taught us all that people don't get jealous about financial information unless they have something to hide? He seems happy to let people conclude that there is something embarrassing in there. Okay.

[kccougar]

I think the tax returns will be a game changer when the details emerge. Kind of like that Reuters article on the Mormon church.

[YOhio]

The bottom line is that when you run for President, most of your life becomes public. It is not unfair for people to want to see for themselves that his extensive financial life has been on the up and up. Now, you are right that there is not even a whiff of malfeasance on his part and I have no reason to think there is anything illegal in there. But hasn't ample experience taught us all that people don't get jealous about financial information unless they have something to hide? He seems happy to let people conclude that there is something embarrassing in there. Okay.

No. I agree. This is very important. Very, very important. Its definitely worth another four years of 8%+ unemployment and recession to avoid whatever Mitt Romney has up his no-tax return showing sleeve.

[DrumNFeather]

The bottom line is that when you run for President, most of your life becomes public. It is not unfair for people to want to see for themselves that his extensive financial life has been on the up and up. Now, you are right that there is not even a whiff of malfeasance on his part and I have no reason to think there is anything illegal in there. But hasn't ample experience taught us all that people don't get jealous about financial information unless they have something to hide? He seems happy to let people conclude that there is something embarrassing in there. Okay.

Some might argue that paying as much as he does in tithing, no matter how much the actual dollar amount is, is the embarrassment.

[UtahDan]

No. I agree. This is very important. Very, very important. Its definitely worth another four years of 8%+ unemployment and recession to avoid whatever Mitt Romney has up his no-tax return showing sleeve.

Don't forget four more years of global warming, Lady Gaga on the radio and BYU football independence. Mitt can fix it!

[UtahDan]

Some might argue that paying as much as he does in tithing, no matter how much the actual dollar amount is, is the embarrassment.

Would you argue that? I wouldn't. I think that most Republican voters anyway would applaud his generosity towards his church. I don't think that is the issue he is worried about. I think a big part of it is how little taxes he pays (as a percentage of income), which we all know is a result of his income being primarily from investments which is taxed at a lower rate, but which will not be an adequate defense for a lot of people.

[byu71]

Amazing how politics and the need to demonize the opposition reduces the IQ level.

Do any of you Obama supporters in your wildest dreams think Romney has cheated on his taxes? Of course not.

What do you look to find out that will be so startling. That he is rich? Perhaps he takes advantage of some tax laws when you have money offshore? Maybe it is the kind of charities he donates too?

Yea, something could be in there that is legal, but the press and the democrats could have a fun time making inuendo's and comments about the situation that most people won't understand. I have been amazed at the number of intelligent people on this board who are clueless when it comes to how capitalism and our tax system works. So yes, we could spend the next 3months discussing things totally out of the grasp of most American voters. It isn't because of the lack of IQ, it will because of the garbage and falsehoods they will be fed.

So go ahead dems. Keep harping on his taxes. It is not only now boring, but a complete loser.

Oh by the way, did you hear Barbara Boxer told a planned parenthood meeting one of the reasons republicans hate women is because they hated their mothers. I heard the clip and sadly she sounded serious. Yea, the unhinged element in the dem party is becoming more unhinged.

[Art Vandelay]

I have posted repeatedly that the reason Romney doesn't want to release is tax returns is because he underpaid on his tithing for many years. Some of you mocked this idea, but I thought it was obvious. In the two years that he released, he paid 7% tithing and 12% tithing, working out to almost 10% total.

I'd be willing to bet that he was paying less than 5% tithing for many years.

Now in an interview he says that the reason he doesn't want to release the returns is because he wants his tithing to remain private:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politic...thing.html.csp

You were in his stake too?

[SeattleUte]

I have posted repeatedly that the reason Romney doesn't want to release is tax returns is because he underpaid on his tithing for many years. Some of you mocked this idea, but I thought it was obvious. In the two years that he released, he paid 7% tithing and 12% tithing, working out to almost 10% total.

I'd be willing to bet that he was paying less than 5% tithing for many years.

Now in an interview he says that the reason he doesn't want to release the returns is because he wants his tithing to remain private:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politic...thing.html.csp

BRILLIANT.

Romney said his favorite book was Battlefield Earth. He can't possibly really believe "The Church is true". He's also very greedy, as everyone knows. But he's stayed LDS because he craves everyone's approval.

[smokymountainrain]

Don't forget four more years of global warming, Lady Gaga on the radio and BYU football independence. Mitt can fix it!

It's worth a shot. If it's broke, don't we have an obligation to at least attempt to fix it? Apparently several disagree and would rather stick with the status quo.

[pellegrino]

Amazing how politics and the need to demonize the opposition reduces the IQ level.

Do any of you Obama supporters in your wildest dreams think Romney has cheated on his taxes? Of course not.

What do you look to find out that will be so startling. That he is rich? Perhaps he takes advantage of some tax laws when you have money offshore? Maybe it is the kind of charities he donates too?

Yea, something could be in there that is legal, but the press and the democrats could have a fun time making inuendo's and comments about the situation that most people won't understand. I have been amazed at the number of intelligent people on this board who are clueless when it comes to how capitalism and our tax system works. So yes, we could spend the next 3months discussing things totally out of the grasp of most American voters. It isn't because of the lack of IQ, it will because of the garbage and falsehoods they will be fed.

So go ahead dems. Keep harping on his taxes. It is not only now boring, but a complete loser.

Oh by the way, did you hear Barbara Boxer told a planned parenthood meeting one of the reasons republicans hate women is because they hated their mothers. I heard the clip and sadly she sounded serious. Yea, the unhinged element in the dem party is becoming more unhinged.

given the recent comments of certain republican candidates on women's issues I think it's safe to say that both parties' unhinged elements are becoming more unhinged.

[pelagius]

I have posted repeatedly that the reason Romney doesn't want to release is tax returns is because he underpaid on his tithing for many years. Some of you mocked this idea, but I thought it was obvious. In the two years that he released, he paid 7% tithing and 12% tithing, working out to almost 10% total.

I would be wary of making inferences about his tithing status using his released tax returns. You are assuming that there is a basically one to one mapping between Romney's titheable and taxable income. I think there is good reason to believe there is not given his income earning process. Thus his released tax returns show he paid a lot of tithing, but neither show that he paid full tithe or less than a full tithe. See this article:

http://timesandseasons.org/index.php...ys-tax-return/

[Paperback Writer]

I prepaid my tithing once because I had some stock that took off like a bat out of hell. I wanted to be unpatriotic and screw Uncle Sam out of a sh*tload of capital gains. It felt good.

You probably already know this but an individual can donate stock to a charity like the church and deduct the market value at the time of the transaction. Consequently, the individual does not have to pay capital gains tax and still gets to deduct the full value. The church does not have to pay taxes if they elect to sell the stock since they have tax exempt status. Uncle Sam takes it in the shorts.

At least that's what my memory tells me. If I'm up in the night about this, it's probably only a matter of time that someone else with an accounting degree that actually practices or a financial planner will do doubt call me out. Still I think the best strategy may be for the stock to max (if one can actually predict that) and then donate tithing shares to the church, sell other shares of the stock, and only pay capital gains only on those shares that are sold (and not on those shares that are donated) and deducting the market value of the donated shares on one's taxes.

[UtahDan]

It's worth a shot. If it's broke, don't we have an obligation to at least attempt to fix it? Apparently several disagree and would rather stick with the status quo.

No, I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that the political season dumbs things down so much that candidates and incumbents take credit for things that only had to do with them in indirect ways and blame each other for things that they had to with in indirect ways. They also claim to be able to "fix" things it is not remotely in their power to. Someone said this above, I think, but beating the 8% unemployment drum is very facile. Does any serious person think that the President of the United States has any more than an indirect impact on that number, particularly when the Congress controls so much? Of course not. The question is, is he setting the right policy so as to help as much as he can with the part that the executive and/or federal government generally does influence. That is a fair question, of course.

So, to me, the way you frame the question above implies that Obama is responsible for whatever is "broke" and that Romney can "fix it." Which to me is not remarkably different than Romney blaming Obama for Utah Basketball sucking and claiming he can restore our former glory.

[UtahDan]

given the recent comments of certain republican candidates on women's issues I think it's safe to say that both parties' unhinged elements are becoming more unhinged.

It will be interesting to see how that plays out. I think (could be wrong) that the women's issues inspire outrage in a way that nothing the dems are doing can.