Harry Reid accuses Romney of not paying taxes

Romney reportedly has an IRA worth $100,000,000. IRA accounts have been in existence for less than 40 years and your annual contributions are limited. I believe it was limited to $2500 initially and has had a few increases to its current level


It'd be near impossible to have a 100 million IRA without doing some less than honest bookkeeping or using unrealistic arbitrarily low valuations. There are only 2 possibilities that could give someone a $100,000,000 IRA as I see it

1) Creative accounting....... which to me would equate to dishonesty or Cheating to get to this level
2)Unreal never before seen brilliance in finding investments that can yield to an extent that he could make an IRA with the contribution constraints put on it to grow to $100,000,000


Obama has already done enough to show me that voting for him aint gonna happen. That doesn't mean that Romney gets my vote, as Im not overly enamored of him.

If Romney would give us the transparency we deserve and release his tax records then I would be able to make an informed decision.
If in fact he is as brilliant as scenario #2 would require he should get every Americans vote. He should be able to retire the debt and make every citizen rich beyond our wildest dreams with that type of Midas touch at the helm in only a single term

However if scenario #1 is in fact the case then I wont be able to vote for him
Additionally Id have a hard time pulling the lever for any person who wants the most important job on our planet, but refuses to release information that we the unwashed that he wishes to lead are routinely required to reveal for simple loans, job applications and other things

Now put me in the same boat as Harry and let the name calling begin

those that are calling for Romney to release his tax records are just adding to the fodder....Harry Reid throws a stink bomb and hope the stench sticks...so he releases his records..what does it show...it shows that he is a wealthy individual, giving Dems the monster they want, they paint Romney as a man out of touch because of his wealth...class warfare all over again....look at all the allegations already flying about million dollar IRA's...do you think that Romney is going to release returns if they are less than bulletproof

Personally I think he is playing the hand just like a good poker player...the last cards havent been dealt yet, there is no need to show the hole cards until the final raise, which will be at debate time...I see the scenario where Romney calls out BHO with I will show you my income tax returns when you unseal your school records,law records,...then thats where the dealer (public) calls for both players to show their cards

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Originally Posted by BonMallari

those that are calling for Romney to release his tax records are just adding to the fodder....Harry Reid throws a stink bomb and hope the stench sticks...so he releases his records..what does it show...it shows that he is a wealthy individual, giving Dems the monster they want, they paint Romney as a man out of touch because of his wealth...class warfare all over again....look at all the allegations already flying about million dollar IRA's...do you think that Romney is going to release returns if they are less than bulletproof

Personally I think he is playing the hand just like a good poker player...the last cards havent been dealt yet, there is no need to show the hole cards until the final raise, which will be at debate time...I see the scenario where Romney calls out BHO with I will show you my income tax returns when you unseal your school records,law records,...then thats where the dealer (public) calls for both players to show their cards

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I could careless if he is worth 20 million or 2 billion, I can't recall a Presidential candidate that wasn't rich, what I want to know is as is crooked like Obama appears to be. If he has nothing to hide there is no use to appear like your hiding something.

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Originally Posted by mjh345

Romney reportedly has an IRA worth $100,000,000. IRA accounts have been in existence for less than 40 years and your annual contributions are limited. I believe it was limited to $2500 initially and has had a few increases to its current level

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I think current limits are in the $5-6k range for a standard IRA. Most people don't realize that there is an SEP IRA for self employed individuals or small business owners. The contribution limits go to 20-25% of income depending on the plan and situation. The contribution limit is currently $50k. The contributions are 100% deductible as a business expense. This is what we do at our company. However, my balance is way way below that $100,000,000 mark.

Some information on the plan is here:

http://www.sepira.com/

Now, I don't know how long these plans have been in existence. I have been doing it for 12 years now. I am positive that the limit has increased over the years, but lets give him the benefit of the doubt and assume the plans have been around for 20 or 30 years and that you could always contribute $50k.

If you made annual contributions of $50k for 20 years, you would need an annual rate of return of 40% on your investments.

If you made annual contributions of $50k for 30 years, you would need an annual rate of return of 23% on your investments.

OK, now say you put in the max and had a few blockbuster years at the beginning of your plan, this would help you tremendously in making your $100,000,000 goal.

Anyhow, just wanted to throw a bit of investing education into an otherwise waste of time. :cool:

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Originally Posted by mngundog

I could careless if he is worth 20 million or 2 billion, I can't recall a Presidential candidate that wasn't rich, what I want to know is as is crooked like Obama appears to be. If he has nothing to hide there is no use to appear like your hiding something.

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Obama isn't my favorite guy contrary to what people on here would think. There is plenty not to like about the guy. It's just that the attacks on him here are so outrageous, I feel that someone needs to try and defend him and try and give the other side. However, I just don't see him as crooked. I hate seeing guys like Daley and Geithner around him, made me sick from the start when he put up Geithner for Treasury... I think if he had put some other economic guys around him at the start we would be better off now than we are. Don't worry, y'all would have hated the guys I would have liked to have seen in there.

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Originally Posted by mjh345

Romney reportedly has an IRA worth $100,000,000. IRA accounts have been in existence for less than 40 years and your annual contributions are limited. I believe it was limited to $2500 initially and has had a few increases to its current level

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Before everybody goes nuts, reported by whom?

Suppose that IRA that Buzz mentions had been invested in gold? Might that have shown that kind of return needed?

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Originally Posted by Buzz

Obama isn't my favorite guy contrary to what people on here would think. There is plenty not to like about the guy. It's just that the attacks on him here are so outrageous, I feel that someone needs to try and defend him and try and give the other side. However, I just don't see him as crooked. I hate seeing guys like Daley and Geithner around him, made me sick from the start when he put up Geithner for Treasury... I think if he had put some other economic guys around him at the start we would be better off now than we are. Don't worry, y'all would have hated the guys I would have liked to have seen in there.

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Which ones? Please don't say all of them.

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Originally Posted by HPL

Before everybody goes nuts, reported by whom?

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The article I read came from that notoriously socialistic rag called the Wall Street Journal. Some estimates put the worth of his IRA as high as $300,000,000
My son just entered his freshman year at the U of Missouri. He is getting no student loans, Pell Grants or any other assisstance other than academic scholarship. The admissions office at this state university requested tax returns, voter registration, copies of my property tax reciepts, drivers license and other things from me. Why I have no idea

Call me old fashioned, but I feel that the govt is to serve the citizens not vice versa. In that light, I feel if they can ask me for my tax returns so my son can go to a state school that is supported by my taxes {and now tuition} I kinda feel like someone who wants to run for POTUS should be required to release at least that much

I would also wonder why Mr Romney wouldn't willingly embrace Transparency
Im not buying Bon's logic in post 22 where he says this is just a Democratic ploy to make him release his tax returns so they could paint him as a wealthy man. I think that horse is already out of the barn Bon

I agree he should show what the law says 2 years, If this is a bad law we need to work to change it but he doesn't have to go above and beyond the law.

If I was hiding from the IRS hadn't paid taxes in the last 10 years and waiting for the IRS to come and arrest me the last thing I would do is run for President.