SmashMouth

President Obama's campaign, with a good dose of help from the media, is pushing a claim that millionaire Mitt Romney is taxed at a "lower rate" than someone making $50,000 a year.
The claim, though, is open to debate. It only holds up in a particular scenario in which both income and all payroll taxes are counted.
The president's campaign presumably is referring to Romney's release last week of his 2011 tax returns, which showed he paid an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent.
This revelation, as might be expected, fueled a wave of campaign stump speeches and videos. The latest was an Obama Web video blasting Romney's "strange take on tax fairness." It included clips of people accusing Romney of paying a lower rate than "average" Americans. An accompanying campaign email said: "Mitt Romney admitted he thinks it's fair that his $20 million income was taxed at a lower rate than someone making $50,000."
IRS data, though, shows that Romney's effective income tax rate -- that's what he pays as a percentage of his income once deductions and other benefits are factored in -- is actually far higher than what most Americans pay.
And it's certainly higher than what someone making $50,000 pays.
IRS data from 2010 shows someone making between $50,000 and $75,000 on average pays an effective rate of 7.8 percent. Even someone making between $100,000 and $200,000 pays a 12.1 percent rate -- also lower than Romney's.


Read more: Fact Check: Is Romney's tax rate really lower than yours? | Fox News

SloMotion

If Romney's effective tax rate, what he pays as a percentage of his income once deductions and other benefits are factored in, is actually far higher than what most Americans pay, then why do they not bring this up in rebuttal?

I understand the liberal media is not going to do Romney any favors and report it on equal time with his "47%" remark, but I would think the Repubs would want to do a better job at damage control if they want to win the election. I would think with the economy & jobs situation like it is that Romney would be a sure thing in November, but it's like the Repubs just sit back and let the spin fly.

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Cruize

That article is why Fox New Fails.

SmashMouth

You do understand the difference between income tax (the tax we pay from a paycheck) and investment profit taxes (the tax we pay from investing money that has already been taxed as regular income tax) right?

Although not quite as confiscatory as the death tax, investment profit tax is maxed out at 20%, I believe. We should all aspire to be able to be in position to make money and live off of our investments.

Cruize

Romney

Yes I do. Done quite well at. Doesn't mean the system is fair for all.