Democrats have speculated that Mitt Romney might have paid little to no taxes in the years covered in his unreleased tax returns. If Paul Ryan had his way, they’d be right.
Romney’s new running mate proposed eliminating the capital gains tax
in his 2010 “Roadmap for America’s Future.” Since Romney, like many
ultra-wealthy Americans, derives virtually all of his income from
investments, he would pay virtually no taxes at all under such a plan.
The Atlantic
crunched the numbers on Romney’s 2010 tax returns, the only one he’s
made public, and found that Romney’s tax rate that year would be just
0.82 percent under Ryan’s proposal.
Romney went out of his way during the campaign to avoid proposing
any capital gains tax cuts that would benefit him personally, keenly
aware that his investment fortune made him an easy target for Democrats.
He did propose tax cuts on investment income, but said they would be
restricted only to middle-class savings, leaving his own vast holdings
unaffected.
The capital gains issue came up during the primaries when Romney attacked Newt Gingrich’s tax plan by noting it would reduce his own tax burden to 0 percent:
“Under that plan, I’d have paid no taxes in the last two years,”
Romney said in a January debate, referring to its elimination of taxes
on investment.
Ryan also may have recognized the political difficulties behind his
idea. While his 2010 proposal put him on the political map, he chose not to zero out capital gains in his House budget.
Given Democratic enthusiasm for Romney’s personal finances and
President Obama’s focus on tax fairness, Ryan’s earlier capital gains
pitch is likely to rear its head on the trail.
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