Obama's, Gingrich's, and Romney's Tax Returns side by side

[sinkingfeeling]

http://money.cnn.com/pf/taxes/storysupplement/candidates-tax-returns/?hpt=hp_t2

[Enrique]

1. damn, the only Catholic is pretty stingy with his charity n/t

[rfranklin]

4. Romney has to give to his church or get excommunicated...

The Catholic church sends kids to sell lottery tickets outside of the supermarket.

[onenote]

8. That's interesting. Is that an across the board obligation?

There are a number of members of the Church of Latter Day Saints that I think of as being fairly progressive -- Mo Udall and other members of the Udall family come to mind. Also Harry Reid.

[rfranklin]

11. there is serious pressure to tithe no matter what your circumstances...

Tithing always comes first in Mormonism. Any member who is struggling in any way (job loss, broken down car, depression, etc) will always be counseled to pay tithing in order to receive blessings. All blessings, privileges and callings in the LDS Church are centered around tithing. Without paying a full tithe, a member cannot be a “member in good standing”.

Mormons are required by Commandment of God to pay 10% of all their GROSS income to the LDS church. This includes all income, including, employment, social security, Medicare, food stamps and trust funds and any other form of income, even including finding money on the ground....

Mormons are further threatened that if they do not pay a full tithe, they will be burned with fire when Jesus Christ comes again. Mormons see Tithing as "fire insurance".

http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_tithing_section1.html

[SmellyFeet]

2. Graphical representation inside...

[Enrique]

6. now add expenditures for jewelry n/t

[hfojvt]

13. I would include another graph

" . "

hfojvt
$13,837.11 - total income

$1.8 million doesn't look quite so small by comparison.

[gateley]

3. What kind of executive is Calista? Is she employed somewhere? nt

[Enrique]

7. I have an hunch what her main duty is

cashing checks people give to her.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Don't you just love Newt's $19.8 K in alimony deductions?

[ProSense]

9. Gingrich and Romney

need to release returns dating back to at least 2004.

[gateley]

10. Yep. Wonder if we can pressure them into it. nt

[hfojvt]

12. I wonder what "write off for book expenses" was

Almost $900,000 in expenses? Or was that money that he gave away?

Romney seems to be pretty generous, with $4.5 million between tithes and charity. Of course that did save him about $675,000 (or more) in taxes too.

[redqueen]

16. There's no M or k after it,

so I'm pretty sure that's just $873.

[hfojvt]

17. ack

they just don't make these computers for old guy eyes which are far away from the screen., but in general the 1.6 million in book royalties plus the .4 million in salary does not add up to 1.8 million in total income, so I figured there must be a write off there somewhere.

Also why the heck include $873 in write offs on the chart. The President must have had $2,000 in interest income which would be more relevant (presumably he saves some of his millions and earns interest. I myself had over $200 in income from my own savings.)

[redqueen]

18. Perhaps the journalist who put the summaries together

thought it looked quaint or something.

[redqueen]

14. Nice! nt

[qb]

15. Hmmm... the Mormom tithe is only 6.9%!

I wonder if that will encourage any of the 1% to convert!

[Beaverhausen]

19. How about Newt's pension from his time as a congressperson?

is that included?

[AtomicKitten]

20. Excellent! Thanks for posting this.