Obama ($379k) and Biden ($87k) release their tax returns - while Mitt Romney ($3.2mil?) files for an
31 replies, posted
[QUOTE](CNN) – The fight over how best to tax the American people turned to the personal finances of the two competing presidential candidates Friday, as President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden released their 2011 tax returns and called for all-but-certain GOP nominee Mitt Romney to do the same.
The move comes after a week of aggressive promotion from the White House and Obama's reelection campaign on the so-called "Buffett Rule," a measure increasing the tax rate to 30% for Americans making more than $1 million per year.
[B]The tax returns released by the White House showed Obama and his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, made $789,674 in income in 2011, and paid an effective federal tax rate of 20.5%. Biden and his wife made $379,035 and paid $87,900 in total federal tax.[/B]
In a post on the White House blog accompanying the returns' release, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney wrote the president's proposed "Buffett Rule" would actually increase the percentage of income the Obamas would pay in taxes.
"Under the President's own tax proposals, including the expiration of the high-income tax cuts and limitations on the value of tax preferences for high-income households, he would pay more in taxes while ensuring we cut taxes for the middle class and those trying to get in it," Carney wrote.
Jim Messina, the campaign manager of Obama's reelection bid, called on Romney to release his 2011 tax return in a statement.
"Mitt Romney's defiance of decades of precedent set by presidential candidates on both sides of the aisle, including his own father, begs the question - what does he have to hide?" Messina wrote.
He continued, "Governor Romney may try once again to play by his own set of rules, but Americans will hold him accountable for trying to hide his record."
The deadline for filing 2011 taxes is Tuesday, though taxpayers may request an extension from the Internal Revenue Service.
Anticipating the pressure to release Romney's tax returns, the former Massachusetts governor's campaign said Obama's campaign was diverting attention from a failed economic record, adding that Romney would release his documents as soon as they're filed.
"It's no surprise with the worst job creation record in modern history that President Obama would try to distract Americans from the real issues with a series of sideshows," Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. "Gov. Romney has already released his 2010 return and an estimate of his 2011 income and taxes. He will release his full 2011 return when it is filed."
Romney's tax returns previously arose as an issue in January, when Democrats along with fellow Republican presidential candidates pressured Romney's campaign to release the documents.
On January 24, Romney's team released his 2010 tax return, as well as an estimate for 2011. Opponents quickly derided the disclosure as paltry, noting that other candidates, including Romney's father during his run for the GOP nomination in 1968, released a decade's worth of tax returns.
The forms the campaign did release showed Romney earned $42.7 million over the past two years and paid $6.2 million in taxes. Over the two years, Romney's effective tax rate - the percentage of his income that he owed in federal income taxes - was 14.5%.
Democrats, eager to align themselves with middle class voters, quickly assailed Romney for paying a low tax rate while earning millions of dollars.
On Thursday, Biden slammed Romney at a campaign stop in New Hampshire for promoting a "Romney Rule" on taxes that would benefit only millionaires like him – a harsh comparison to the "Buffett Rule" Democrats are promoting.
"The Buffett Rule says that multi-millionaires should pay at least the same percentage of their income in taxes as middle-class families do," Biden said Thursday. "The Romney Rule says the very wealthy should keep the tax cuts and loopholes they have, and get an additional, new tax cut every year that is worth more than what the average middle class family makes in an entire year."
[B]Obama's 2010 tax return showed the president earned $1,728,096 and paid $453,770 in income taxes.[/B][/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/13/tax-fight-gets-personal-as-obama-and-biden-returns-released/[/url]
[QUOTE]NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Like millions of other Americans, Mitt Romney isn't going to be ready to file his taxes on time this year.
The former Massachusetts governor and his wife Ann [B]filed for an extension for their 2011 taxes, according to tax forms released by the Romney campaign on Friday.[/B]
The documents included Form 4868, which grants taxpayers a six-month extension to file their returns. [B]The form listed the Romneys' estimated tax liability as $3.2 million, and stated that the family has already made payments of $3.4 million.[/B] A second form showed that the Romneys applied a payment of $887,000 toward estimated taxes when they filed for the extension.
Earlier this year, the Romneys released an estimate of their 2011 taxes, which was the same $3.2 million amount that appeared on the extension form.
A campaign spokeswoman said they will release their 2011 tax return when it is filed, presumably within the next six months. She also noted that the couple has filed for extensions in prior years as well.
[B]For the 2010 tax year, the Romneys paid $3 million in taxes on $21.7 million in income.[/B]
Obama reveals 2011 tax returns
As the April 17 tax deadline draws near, the Romneys aren't the only ones asking for more time to finish up their taxes. The IRS estimates that 10.4 million taxpayers filed for extensions last year.
President Barack Obama was also in the news for his taxes Friday, when he revealed his returns to the public -- after filing them before the tax deadline.
[B]The Obama family reported paying $162,074 in federal taxes on an adjusted gross income of $789,674 for 2011. The family's annual income dropped by almost $1 million as sales from the president's best-selling books -- "Dreams from My Father," and "The Audacity of Hope" -- slowed.[/B][/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/13/pf/taxes/romney-files-tax-extension/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2[/url]
Personally, I think it's stupid that any of this should be considered part of the presidential campaigns. It's not like Obama and Romeny sat down one day and said, "You know what, I think I'll pay only [I]this[/I] much in taxes this year." The tax brackets and system was set up long before either of them came into the spotlight.
[quote][b]$789,674[/b][/quote]
Sweet fucking Jesus I wan't to be president now.
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562896]Sweet fucking Jesus I wan't to be president now.[/QUOTE]
That's nowhere near enough money for someone who has the most stressful job in the world :v:
[QUOTE=ewitwins;35562925]That's nowhere near enough money for someone who has the most stressful job in the world :v:[/QUOTE]
I'd say coal miners and marines have it a bit tougher than the President in terms of stress.
[QUOTE]"The Buffett Rule says that multi-millionaires should pay at least the same percentage of their income in taxes as middle-class families do," Biden said Thursday.[/QUOTE]
Socialism.
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562944]I'd say coal miners and marines have it a bit tougher than the President in terms of stress.[/QUOTE]
Not when you have to pussy-foot around every other leader on the planet, have the lives of billions in your hands, and have the ability to plunge it all into darkness with the push of a single fucking button
v:v:v
None of this should matter.
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562944]I'd say coal miners and marines have it a bit tougher than the President in terms of stress.[/QUOTE]
Presidents don't age well. Look at Obama before he won presidency, look at him now.
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562944]I'd say coal miners and marines have it a bit tougher than the President in terms of stress.[/QUOTE]
Why do you think that? A coal miner and a Marine generally live the same day every day, the stressful situations occur mostly when something goes wrong in an area that is litteraly within miles of their person.
The President of the United States, on the other hand, deals with just about ever political and economic crisis across the planet. That includes North Korea, terrorism, two wars, the world economy, relations with foreign leaders, military matters, even congress... He doesn't have enough time to deal with all the events that happen, and generally just about every single day is different. He could be flying out to ensure a strike with significant impact doesn't happen one day, then flying half way around the world to strike a deal with the leader of another country. He'll probably crunch numbers on the budget with his staff the next, and attend a state party, after he reviews legislation presented to him from Congress.
A lot of people could be a coal miner or a marine. Much fewer people are qualified for the office of President, although many people like to think otherwise.
[QUOTE=zombini;35563008]Presidents don't age well. Look at Obama before he won presidency, look at him now.[/QUOTE]
Once you become a president you get lots of grey hair
Lots.
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
George Bush in 2001
[img]http://www.handresearch.com/news/us-presidents/president-george-w-bush-right-hand-inauguration.jpg[/img]
George Bush in 2008
[img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00661/news-graphics-2008-_661919a.jpg[/img]
See what he means
[QUOTE=ewitwins;35562973]Not when you have to pussy-foot around every other leader on the planet, have the lives of billions in your hands, and have the ability to plunge it all into darkness with the push of a single fucking button
v:v:v[/QUOTE]
Still beats fighting an insurgency in a desert nation a few thousand miles away from their homes who make ample use of suicide bombers and IEDs along with dealing with the threat of ambushes, civilian casualties, and friendly fire. Bullshitting foreign politicians usually doesn't leave you with PTSD or limb loss.
[QUOTE=SilentOpp;35563029]
[B]The President of the United States, on the other hand, deals with just about ever political and economic crisis across the planet. That includes North Korea, terrorism, two wars, the world economy, relations with foreign leaders, military matters, even congress...[/B] He doesn't have enough time to deal with all the events that happen, and generally just about every single day is different. He could be flying out to ensure a strike with significant impact doesn't happen one day, then flying half way around the world to strike a deal with the leader of another country. He'll probably crunch numbers on the budget with his staff the next, and attend a state party, after he reviews legislation presented to him from Congress.
A lot of people could be a coal miner or a marine. Much fewer people are qualified for the office of President, although many people like to think otherwise.[/QUOTE]
The difference between what he does and what a marine does is that the president gets to sit back in relative comfort and watch all of those things from a distance, he also has countless advisers and others working under him to help keep his job manageable. Being in an warzone seems a lot more stressful than that.
[QUOTE=zombini;35563008]Presidents don't age well. Look at Obama before he won presidency, look at him now.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, it's really taken a lot out of him.
[img]http://www.xerxy.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/old_obama.jpg[/img]
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35563045]Still beats fighting an insurgency in a desert nation a few thousand miles away from their homes who make ample use of suicide bombers and IEDs along with dealing with the threat of ambushes, civilian casualties, and friendly fire. Bullshitting foreign politicians usually doesn't leave you with PTSD or limb loss.
The difference between what he does and what a marine does is that the president gets to sit back in relative comfort and watch all of those things from a distance, he also has countless advisers and others working under him to help keep his job manageable. Being in an warzone seems a lot more stressful than that.[/QUOTE]
And soldiers have hundreds if not thousands of teammates nearby to help them keep their job manageable. At the end of the day, a soldier goes through a day to day grind and deals with a limited variety of situations. The president has less of the first, and much more of the latter. The impact of the decisions from a president are far larger in scale than those of a single soldier.
I'm not going to say you're wrong.. You could be right. But until we have a president who has been a modern-day front line soldier, we can't really tell.
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562896]Sweet fucking Jesus I wan't to be president now.[/QUOTE]
That figure is most likely from his book sales.
The salary of the president is $400,000 a year.
[table="width: 400, class: grid"]
[tr]
[td]Date established [/td]
[td]Salary[/td]
[td]Salary in 2009 dollars[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]September 24, 1789[/td]
[td]$25,000 [/td]
[td]$566,000[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]March 3, 1873[/td]
[td]$50,000[/td]
[td]$865,000[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]March 4, 1909[/td]
[td]$75,000[/td]
[td]$1,714,000[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]January 19, 1949[/td]
[td]$100,000[/td]
[td]$906,000[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]January 20, 1969[/td]
[td]$200,000[/td]
[td]$1,175,000[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]January 20, 2001[/td]
[td]$400,000[/td]
[td]$487,000[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
[QUOTE=MegaChalupa;35562944]I'd say coal miners and marines have it a bit tougher than the President in terms of stress.[/QUOTE]
It might surprise you, and a lot of others, to know that Marines don't have it as tough as a lot of people believe.
They got so desperate for recruits back after we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan that they basically, to directly quote the University of California in a 2008 study they did about life in their ranks, "turned military service into a sexualized fantasy land". Frankly, it's an embarrassment.
[url]http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/01/us_marines_orgy_palace_of_ston.php[/url]
This high school journalist from Colorado exposed his Marine recruiters. They willing to help him cheat drug tests and falsify his school records so he could qualify to join.
Marines definitely have it better than the coal miners anyway.
[QUOTE=zombini;35563008]Presidents don't age well. Look at Obama before he won presidency, look at him now.[/QUOTE]
Presidents don't go on combat missions, sleep in shit, etc. Don't think they're comparable.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;35562956]Socialism.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/TFCgU.png[/IMG]
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
Relevant.
[QUOTE=ewitwins;35562925]That's nowhere near enough money for someone who has the most stressful job in the world :v:[/QUOTE]
He gets so much free stuff, you don't even know.
[QUOTE=soccerskyman;35564067][IMG]http://filesmelt.com/dl/TFCgU.png[/IMG]
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
Relevant.[/QUOTE]
My post was sarcastic. I actually posted that same image a few weeks ago :v:
[QUOTE=Chicken_Chaser;35563539]Presidents don't go on combat missions, sleep in shit, etc. Don't think they're comparable.[/QUOTE]
As a marine, you have the important basic comfort that is the lack of decision-making responsibility. You get told what to do, you know how to do it, and you are supervised and assisted by your team when you do it. At the end of the day, as long as you do the stuff that people tell you to do, you can't fail or be disgraced.
As the president of the united states, you can't quit. Every word you say, every facial gesture you make, is permanently recorded. The dignity of the United States is resting squarely on your shoulders, 100% of the time. You make every decision. Your signature carries the weight of law and can save or end the lives of unpredictable numbers of people. Codes of morals and ethics are so weaponized in American politics that you have no idea what's really right anymore, but you're still expected, by hundreds of millions of people, to be a paragon of justice and truth. Whenever you go somewhere, anywhere, for the rest of your life, teams of veteran bodyguards must plan out every step you take. You've got a private helicopter, and a private jet, and you use them both, often, because sometimes you'll have shit to do on two different halves of the country and no, it can't wait until tomorrow.
If you've ever given a public performance, you know how stressful it can be. As the president, that's your life.
As a marine, you're mostly either digging ditches or patrolling dirt farms with ten or eleven guys that just don't give a shit. If you fuck up, you get made fun of, and occasionally chewed out. You might get shot at, but statistically speaking, you probably won't get shot at.
My tax return: $37.93
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Chicken_Chaser;35563539]Presidents don't go on combat missions, sleep in shit, etc. Don't think they're comparable.[/QUOTE]
Coal miners and marines don't have to deal with everything that happens in the world ever.
[editline]14th April 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Sector 7;35564694]
As a marine, you're mostly either digging ditches or patrolling dirt farms with ten or eleven guys that just don't give a shit. If you fuck up, you get made fun of, and occasionally chewed out. You might get shot at, but statistically speaking, you probably won't get shot at.[/QUOTE]
[video=youtube;A5tRNs2X5Q4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5tRNs2X5Q4[/video]
In the list of most important people for americans, the US president and the US marine are competing for the spot below Jesus.
From what I understand of most conservatives Reagen is pretty close to Jesus.
Give the man a break. When he's earning so much more money then of course he needs more time to file his taxes.
Don't you guys know how hard it is to be so wealthy?
Found it interesting that this entire thread has been about Obama.
No mention of Romeny possibly earning 3+ [B]million[/B] dollars or the fact that he's filed a tax extension.
The figures in the headline are wrong. The 397k is what Biden earned, it has nothing to do with Obama.
[QUOTE=Falchion;35565146]In the list of most important people for americans, the US president and the US marine are competing for the spot below Jesus.[/QUOTE]
Poor Rangers.
14%, haha.
In the Netherlands, top income brackets have a 52% tax rate.
[QUOTE=Capitulazyguy;35567898]The figures in the headline are wrong. The 397k is what Biden earned, it has nothing to do with Obama.[/QUOTE]
Whoops
That's my fault, I decided to add the numbers into the title last minute and skimmed to find them
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