A repository for Marcospinelli's comments and essays published at other websites.

Mitt Romney's Money: Candidate Will Amend Financial Disclosures Released In August

Thursday, January 26, 2012


The returns Romney made public this week represent the years 2010 and 2011, and raise more questions than they answer. 

His 2010 return indicates he paid a rate of 13.9 percent, and suggests he paid far lower than that in 2009. The 2010 return reveals he carried over $4.9 million in capital losses from the previous year. That means he paid no taxes on any capital gains in 2009, including no taxes on his carried interest. So how much did he pay in 2009? Zero? How close to zero?


Or how about 2008, the year when the investment market first crashed? 

Romney's 2010 return also lists a Swiss bank account. Romney's trust adviser said the account existed "for diversific­ation purposes only". His return indicates he paid US taxes on the interest in that Swiss account, and that he closed the Swiss account in 2010. That’s all fine, but how long did he have the Swiss account to begin with?  Was he betting against US currency? 

We would know the answers to those questions if Romney released his earlier returns. 

When Romney last ran for president four years ago, he said he was in the process of divesting or removing all of his holdings in Iran and all investment­s related to stem cell research. However, his charitable trust indicates he continued to buy and sell these holdings. Did Romney break his word about his divestment promises? Only his 2007 return can answer that.

How much did Romney make and what tax rate did he pay from 1984 to 2009? In this period, he was a corporate buyout specialist at Bain, and he then continued to receive a share of the Bain profits as part of a non-compet­e agreement.  Only his returns from this period will show how much he made and what his rate was. 

Furthermor­e, they will also show how much he profited from deals that led to bankruptci­es.  Specifical­ly, KB Toys and Dade Behring.  His firm got millions of dollars in dividends when he acquired those companies, then Bain sent KB and Dade Behring into bankruptcy­, prompting thousands of US workers to lose their jobs.  How much did he profit in those deals?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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