How Mitt Romney’s tax returns stack up — in 1 chart

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/how-mitt-romneys-tax-returns-stack-up--in-1-chart/2012/07/25/gJQAdJdT9W_blog.html

How Mitt Romney’s tax returns stack up — in 1 chart

Posted by Chris Cillizza at 03:05 PM ET, 07/25/2012 TheWashingtonPost

Unless you haven’t been paying attention to politics for the past few months, you know by now that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is very wealthy.

But, how does Romney’s wealth — as translated in the political conversation through his tax returns — compare to that of the last few presidents? Thanks to the Sunlight Foundation, the Fix’s new favorite site, we know.

The chart below shows both the year-by-year incomes of and the effective tax rate paid by Romney as well as the last five presidents (including Obama).

[polichick]

1. Beautiful chart to send Republicans who email propaganda...

Not that they'll get it even then.

[JHB]

2. And the chart itself: income vs. tax rate

[jerseyjack]

3. This also explains the justification for increasing the taxes on the 1%.

Not that they will care. They all know they are going to be multi-millionaires in a couple of years.

[Doctor_J]

6. Slight correction

They all know they are going to be multi-millionaires in a couple of years.

If the government will just get off of their backs.

[Dalai_1]

4. I first looked at

all those dots on the bottom of the chart and thought
"that isn't so bad"....then saw the red ones at the very top..OMG!

Thank you for posting this

[Advocatus-Diaboli]

5. There is always a loophole.

After watching various documentaries on the subject I have come to the conclusion that, outside of a Net Worth Tax (of which, we will likely never see), there is no real way to confine the 1% to paying the full scaled taxes they are expected to pay. Not only is it laughably simple for them to isolate and allocate until most of their taxable fortune is gone in a wisp of smoke, but said citizens are even proffered various conferences on how best to hide their money from the government.

In retrospect, it seems futile to ever believe we could ever grasp the slug by its head with an endeavor so trivial as a simple Scaled-Income Tax...