The Greatness of the American System

So, Senator Harry Reid says that Mitt Romney paid 0 taxes for 10 years. He also commended Mitt's Daddy, George Romney, for his integrity and release of 12 years of his tax records when he ran for President.

The Romney Camp, while rushing to Mitt's defense, attack Sen. Reid for his praise of Mitt's Daddy? However, on the subject of Mitt's financial support of a country he loves so much he wants to be it's President, the Romney Camp roar of protest is just not there. It's there from his loyal supporters, those Conservatives, Republicans, Tea Party and Libertarian people who fail to understand that in life you PAY for what you receive. However, from anyone inside the actual Romney campaign, the tongues are silent.

Back in 2003, we filed our 2002 taxes taking an $1100 deduction that we thought we were entitled to. In April of 2004, the IRS audited us for that year. We wound up paying the $1100 plus another $1800 in penalties and late charges. The reason we thought it a legitimate deduction was because it was the Sales tax amount that would be owed in March of the following year. The IRS determined that any money left in the account at the end of the year was Profit. We now keep sales tax money in a different account with the words Sales Tax in the account name. In NYS Sales Tax is not income. The IRS doesn't agree if that money is in our business account.

In 2002 we paid somewhere between 3 and 4 thousand in income tax, and then paid another $2200, but we never grossed more than $80,000 that year. By the time the allowed deductions took place, our taxable income was less than $25,000. We own a small business which began to shrink once Bush became President. The Bush tax cuts allowed us to get back around $100 a year instead of paying more in, but our income dropped every year by as much as $10,000. We were hurt badly by the economic slide.

By rights, (the "rights" being I paid taxes which HURT) I should be absolutely livid at Mitt Romney for his tax evasion ways. Every single one of us who works hard to eke out a living and pay the taxes we owe should be livid. I don't think it's apathy that I'm not. As a matter of fact, I have a certain sense of pride about the fact that we did pay our taxes. When life has it's moments of struggle, the fact that you can actually scrape up enough to pay for something and on time has it's own rewards.

We didn't seek out a method to avoid paying our share for the programs our government runs to aid those less fortunate. We didn't look for a way to avoid paying for wars from which we were making a profit. We weren't the ones making that profit. We didn't put people out of jobs so we could have another shelter to be used to keep more of our income. We paid what we owed. And for that 1 year we actually paid more than we owed since Sales Tax isn't income. In that case we paid for a lesson learned.

Mitt Romney lives what most people call "The American Dream". In my estimation, even with the struggle life has become, so do I. I live in a way that allows me to pay my bills in full and on time. I don't have to hide anything. I can, with my head held high, say what I believe in this week and know that there is no record anywhere that I said I believed something else entirely 10 years ago. My honesty, my integrity is intact. It's not held hostage by my ambition.

We paid our taxes, and it wasn't easy. There were times when doing so created a hardship. That would not be the case with the potential Republican Candidate for President. However, he apparently thinks he owes this country and it's people nothing. He just wants to be President of a Great American System that he won't support with either his taxes or his integrity.