ABC’s investigative unit has uncovered that Willard “Mitt” Romney not only pays an low maximum 15% tax rate, but he also has parked millions of his $250 million personal fortune in off-shore investments funds, a notorious way to avoid taxes.
The Romney campaign told ABC that he has paid all required U.S. taxes on his investments. However, people who are tax specialists admit that the offshore accounts give Romney, and his former company Bain Capital, financial benefits that cost the federal government tax revenue. ABC reported that “Rebecca J. Wilkins, a tax policy expert with Citizens for Tax Justice, said the federal government loses an estimated $100 billion a year because of tax havens.”
Willard and his cronies benefit from what is called the “carried interest” rule. While you and I have to pay a progressive tax on our income that increases as we earn more, hedge fund managers and rich investors like Romney pay only 15% by making sure that all their income is considered “capital gains.” Then, they can get even bigger benefits by putting some of their money in off-shore accounts and using management fees and higher foreign interest to lower their tax rate even more.
Folks, Willard Romney – the guy who falsely said he has worried about getting pink slips a couple of times, who loves to fire people, who tells us that corporations “are people, too, my friend,” who uses every trick that the wealthy have bought themselves in the U.S. tax code – is no friend of the 99.9% of us who aren’t in his income bracket. Wanna guess who he’s would look out for if he actually got to be president?
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