What Romney’s NOT Telling Us About His 2011 Tax Return

In July of 2012 Romney said:

“I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president. “Romney has just released his 2011 tax returns. As shown in those returns he paid more tax than he was legally required to pay. Romney made some charitable contributions and then opted not to take the deduction for those contributions that was allowed under the current tax code.  Without question, Romney is a sophisticated guy, and declared in July that no person in their right mind would pay more in taxes than he owed.  Romney has sophisticated accountants who manage his “blind trust.”  They’d be liable for malpractice if there were deductions available to Mitt that they didn’t take.  Thus if deductions were available and Mitt didn’t take them in 2011 there must have been a good reason.

In August he had declared that he had paid at least 13% in taxes every year for the past 10 years. It appears that by not taking deductions that were available to him in 2011 Romney may have falsely inflated the amount and percentage of taxes he paid.   By not taking the deductions that were available to him, he was able to document that his effective tax rate for 2011 was actually 14.1%. However he hasn’t disclosed what his effective rate for 2011 will be after he files an amended return when the 2012 election is over. Not only is Romney allowed to file an amended return and increase his deductions for taxes paid in 2012, and not only will the government refund any overpayment, but the IRS will also pay the taxpayer interest on the amount of the over-payment. Commentators across the country are reporting the effective rate as 14.1%, but the actual rate may be significantly lower after the election is over, and amended returns are filed.

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