My Guy Mitt

by Diane Carlisle

My fellow blogger, Under Cover Waitress, posted about paying taxes on tips and because I am thoroughly entertained by her posts, I pay particular attention to every word. So, you can imagine my angst when she calls out my guy, Mitt Romney, for only paying 15% in taxes as revealed by the release of his tax return. You know I have to defend my guy. After all, I voted for him! Go Florida! By the way, I'm so happy to have been a part of the republican primaries, and the volunteers had an awesome display of goodies to feed us voters.

Back to my rival blogger. She is correct; Romney only paid 15% of his income. He is not currently employed though, so his only income comes in as capital gains, and 15% is the going rate. He invests his money. Why...that BASTARD!

Listen, if all these rich guys didn't invest their money and instead put it all in a safe in their houses, where do you think we'd be in this economy now? Sure, they wouldn't make any money on it, but they wouldn't be risking the "loss" of it either, especially with the economy as volatile as it is these days.

When rich people invest money, they earn money. Isn't earning money a good thing? Or has America become a country that doesn't believe that people should earn money? Besides, he was already taxed on the money he earned, which he now invests. The more you invest, the more you earn, and therefore, the more you pay taxes. Who's getting screwed here? And the guy still paid millions of dollars to charities and 10% of his income to his church.

Earning money is something we all strive to do. Some of us do it smarter and some of us don't. The person who sits at home collecting unemployment because the pay is more than he'd get busting his ass making minimum wage is smart. Sure, he's pissing me off, because my tax dollar provided the program which allows this to happen. Now, my guy Mitt, he's making money off the money he already earned. Nobody's tax dollar is contributing to his ability to do that.

I'm no Mitt Romney, but I think he understands the consequences if he chooses not to work his assets as best for him and his family as he can. That means no wasted opportunities for growth. Don't you want someone like that looking out for America as a whole? Or would you rather the government take risks and gamble with our tax dollars and leave the mess behind for our kids to cleanup?

We need to stop electing people who want to spend our tax dollars "unwisely" and we need to stop worrying about "fair" distribution. Nothing is ever fair. It's not fair that someone in my family got back more taxes than they paid in. It's not fair that we have people going hungry every day, who have to go to soup kitchens that operate off charitable contributions made by people who earn money and pay taxes.


Middle class
$150,000.00 x 35% = $52,500.00 (thousands in taxes)

Wealthy class
$21,000,000.00 x 15% = $3,150,000.00 (millions in taxes)

How is that fair? But, he paid it, right? At least he didn't "forget to pay" his taxes like some politicians.

Let's discuss. Do you believe that top wage earners should be taxed a higher percentage rate? If so, why?