Obama campaign calls on Romney to release full 20 years, not just summary
Maybe next time Romney should aim before he fires
Fri Sep 21, 2012 at 02:28 PM PDT by Jed Lewison
I don't think anybody is really sure why Mitt Romney decided to reveal his average effective tax rate over the past 20 years, but one thing is for sure: it's given the Obama campaign an opportunity to release a statement questioning why he won't release the raw tax returns and calling on him to open the books:
And one of those questions is, as Greg Sargent wrote earlier, [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/expert-romney-may-have-paid-less-in-taxes-over-20-years-than-it-appears/2012/09/21/41b27e00-041e-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html ] what Mitt Romney's actual net tax rate was during that 20 year period. Remember, the figure Romney released was the average tax rate per year—not the cumulative tax rate. That means years in which he had lower income but a higher tax rate are weighted the same as years in which he had higher income and a lower rate. It's sort of a like a baseball player hitting .600 as a rookie in five games and then hitting .250 the next year in a full season, and then claiming a .425 lifetime batting average. It just doesn't add up.
Originally posted to The Jed Report on Fri Sep 21, 2012 at 02:28 PM PDT. Also republished by Daily Kos.
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