Last week, 2012 GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney finally admitted that his tax rate is around 15 percent, due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of his income comes from investments. Despite paying a lower rate than many middle class families, Romney said during a GOP primary debate tonight in Florida that he is “proud of the fact” that he pays “a lot of taxes.” Watch it:
Romney added that “I’d like to see our tax rate come down,” and indeed, under the tax plan that Romney has put forward, his own taxes would be cut nearly in half. Under current law, Romney would pay about a 24 percent tax rate in 2013. However, if his own plan were in place, that rate would fall dramatically:
[Citizens for Tax Justice] calculated what Romney would pay if his own plan passed. That is, if you kept the Bush tax cuts in place, including keeping the capital gains tax at 15 percent, and scrapped the Medicare tax, as Romney wants to do.
Under that system, Romney would pay a rate of a little under 15 percent — because virtually all his income is from capital gains and dividends.
The group calculates that this means Romney’s plan would give him a tax cut of more than 40 percent.
Overall, the wealthy would do very well under Romney’s tax plan, with millionaires receiving a $150,000 annual tax cut. In fact, Romney’s proposed tax cut for millionaires is twice the size of the Bush tax cuts.
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