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by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Wella, Wella, Wella folks. PolitiFact has given the ever questionable Senator Harry Reid four Pinocchio's for his story Romney paid no taxes for ten years. He has earned himself a much deserved "Pants on Fire" from PolitiFact. I guess that means Rep. Nancy Pelosi has her skirt on fire as well then.

... Salon.com -- which is generally considered a liberal media outlet, thus no friend to Romney -- asked two tax experts whether they thought it was likely that Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. They concluded, "probably not."

The article quoted David Miller, a tax attorney with the firm Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in New York, saying it’s "highly unlikely" that he paid nothing.

"It would be easier for someone like Steve Jobs to pay zero, as most of his wealth was in company stock, which isn’t taxed until sold and may never be sold," Miller told Salon. The Salon article continued, "But Romney’s arrangement with Bain is different. He would have earned management fees, and when Bain sold the underlying companies that it invested in, Romney would have been subject to tax on his share. 'It’s possible he paid very little in taxes, but I find it hard to believe that he paid none,' Miller said."

Salon also quoted Joshua Kamerman, a lawyer and CPA in New York, who said while it’s theoretically possible, it’s also "preposterous."

"Charitable donations can shield up to only 50 percent of tax liability, while other means can lower the rate," the article said. "But to pay nothing, Romney would have to sustain business operating losses, Kamerman said. The IRS lets people carry over losses for up to 20 years until they make a profit from which to deduct them. But Kamerman said this is almost certainly not the case for Romney."

We asked Lawrence J. White, an economist at the Stern School of Business at New York University, for his view, and he concurred with Miller and Kamerman. "I agree that it's extremely unlikely that Mr. Romney paid no income taxes for 10 years," White said.

Our ruling

Reid has said Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. It was no slip of the tongue. He repeated the claim on at least two more occasions, at one point saying that "the word is out" when in fact it was only Reid who put that "word" out.

Reid has produced no evidence to back up his claim other than attribution to a shadowy anonymous source. Romney has denied the claim, and tax experts back him up, saying that the nature of Romney's investments in Bain make it highly unlikely he would have been able to avoid paying taxes altogether -- especially for 10 years.

Reid has made an extreme claim with nothing solid to back it up. Pants on Fire! {Read It All!!}

If we are lucky this will put the tax (non)issue to rest. The country has Much More Important issues to concern itself with and the candidates should be pressed on issues that really matter. Namely how the government will insure our freedoms and individual liberties as well as how it will create an environment in which the private sector business community will feel confident government will support their initiatives and efforts to create jobs for Americans here at home.

Second to the urgent issues just above the candidates need to be pressed, and pressed hard on just what in the blazes they have as a plan to; A) trim the DOD budget, B) get entitlement spending under control, C) begin balancing the budget, and C) to work down our 16 trillion dollar national debt.

The biggest issue may very well be neither the Republican candidate Romney, or the President, has a viable plan to to resolve the above issues that should concern all Americans... Just maybe that is precisely why people might want to start considering the candidacy of Gary Johnson for President of the United States.

Via: Memorandum