To the editor:
Everyday we hear the democratic left call for more of Mitt Romney’s tax return and complain that is effective tax rate was less than the average secretary. If you look at his 2011 return (available on the Internet) his gross income was $20.4 million. He paid $3.2 million or, an effective rate was 15. 6 percent. Before you raise questions about this you have to realize that he had zero ordinary income like us, which is subject to the higher tax rates.
Then you have to remember that his income which involves dividends, interest and capital gains which are taxed at a much lower rate. Also you have to remember that even these investments are in a blind trust (he doesn’t have direct day to day control over them) and he has accountants that will look for every opportunity to minimize his taxes within current tax laws. Also, unlike most of us the Romney’s are very charitable people. He has always given at least 10 percent of any income to support his church. Actually, in 2011 he and his wife contributed more than $4 million to his church and other charitable organizations.
Also, like us, he has to pay state and property taxes, which are deductible from his federal return. In 2011 these amounted to 7 percent of his total income. Now people say that his parents were very wealthy and successful and that led to Mitt Romney’s current success. Yes, that past fortune enabled Mitt Romney to go to the best schools and gave him a leg up or motivation to be successful in life. However, when his father died in 1998 Mitt had already achieved his own success. He then took the inheritance from his father and gave it all to Brigham Young University in honor of his father.
Therefore, in the future when you read the articles, such as those from our left leaning neighbor Michael Reilly, remember that the republican presidential candidate has been successful in life, he earned it himself and not by inheritance, that he has be extremely charitable with the money he has earned, and that he has fairly paid his taxes in line with what is required by all of us.
Marion Eggleton
Medford
