Did Mitt Romney pay any taxes in 2009?
Romney's refusal to release tax returns prior to 2010 has both parties thinking he has something to hide. One theory is that he didn't pay a penny in taxes in 2009
Mitt Romney is adamant about not releasing any of his tax returns from before 2010, and he's getting hammered for it politically. "The costs of not releasing the returns are clear," conservative columnist George Will told ABC News. "Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them." What could be so bad? There are lots of theories, but reporters and commentators are zeroing in on 2009 as the speculative problem year, since Romney has released or promised to release (most of) his 2010 and 2011 tax documents and handed over more than 20 years of returns in 2008 to Sen. John McCain's vice-presidential vetters — and McCain says there was nothing disqualifying in them. One theory gaining traction is that Romney paid zero taxes in 2009. The Romney campaign says that's "not true." But is it actually possible?
The zero-tax theory makes the most sense: Romney, like his peers among the ultra-rich, probably lost a bundle in the 2008 market collapse, says Joshua Green at Bloomberg Businessweek. "It's possible he suffered a large enough capital loss that, carried forward and coupled with his various offshore tax havens, he wound up paying no U.S. federal taxes at all in 2009." That is "unfounded, though not implausible, speculation," of course, but paying zero taxes would be "politically deadly" enough to justify the heat he's taking for keeping pre-2010 returns private.
"What's Romney hiding in his tax returns?"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Romney almost certainly paid some taxes: Based on Romney's 2010 returns, "we know he had no taxable capital gains in 2009," says Josh Barro at Bloomberg View. "But big capital losses alone wouldn't be enough to save Romney from paying any tax." He couldn't offset his millions in other income with capital losses, and doesn't appear to have taken other common strategies to bring his 2009 tax bill to $0. My bet is that he just used "aggressive tax planning strategies that are legally, but not politically, defensible."
"New thoughts about what's hiding in Romney's tax returns"
Low taxes would be bad enough: I agree that Romney probably "paid some federal taxes in 2009," says Ezra Klein at The Washington Post. For one thing, "the sort of tax sheltering he would have needed to get to zero would be quasi-suicidal for a presidential aspirant." But he could have gotten his effective tax rate down to "3 or 4 or 5 percent," and that would be "nearly as bad as zero." Why would a presidential wannabe do that? It's normal for Romney's income bracket, and "people running for office are human beings who procrastinate and make bad decisions and get distracted," too.
"Did Mitt Romney pay any federal taxes at all in 2009?"
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Read more political coverage at The Week's 2012 Election Center.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
-
Today's political cartoons - May 5, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - annoying noises, gag orders, and more
By The Week US Published
-
5 highly educational cartoons about student protests
Cartoons Artists take on apolitical camping, the National Guard, and more
By The Week US Published
-
French schools and the scourge of teenage violence
Talking Point Gabriel Attal announces 'bold' intervention to tackle rise in violent incidents
By The Week UK Published
-
Arizona court reinstates 1864 abortion ban
Speed Read The law makes all abortions illegal in the state except to save the mother's life
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump, billions richer, is selling Bibles
Speed Read The former president is hawking a $60 "God Bless the USA Bible"
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The debate about Biden's age and mental fitness
In Depth Some critics argue Biden is too old to run again. Does the argument have merit?
By Grayson Quay Published
-
How would a second Trump presidency affect Britain?
Today's Big Question Re-election of Republican frontrunner could threaten UK security, warns former head of secret service
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'Rwanda plan is less a deterrent and more a bluff'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By The Week UK Published
-
Henry Kissinger dies aged 100: a complicated legacy?
Talking Point Top US diplomat and Nobel Peace Prize winner remembered as both foreign policy genius and war criminal
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Last updated
-
Trump’s rhetoric: a shift to 'straight-up Nazi talk'
Why everyone's talking about Would-be president's sinister language is backed by an incendiary policy agenda, say commentators
By The Week UK Published
-
More covfefe: is the world ready for a second Donald Trump presidency?
Today's Big Question Republican's re-election would be a 'nightmare' scenario for Europe, Ukraine and the West
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published