memeorandum: Why Romney's Taxes Matter (Politics)

11:50 AM ET, January 24, 2012

Top Items:

Romney's Taxes: $3 Million — Candidate Paid a 14% Effective Tax Rate for 2010 on $21.7 Million in Income — WASHINGTON—GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid a 14% effective income tax rate in 2010 after making $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations and drawing …

Discussion: news.talkingpointsmemo.com, Above the Law, americanthinker.com, The Politico, Reuters, Taylor Marsh, Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog, The Raw Story, TalkLeft, The Page and National Review

Washington Post:

Mitt Romney's tax returns shed some light on his investment wealth — Mitt Romney offered a partial snapshot of his vast personal fortune late Monday, disclosing income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year — virtually all of it profits, dividends or interest from investments.

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, Rod Dreher, Hot Air, Ballot Box, msnbc.com, The Strata-Sphere, The Politico, Wonkette, The Hill, Campaign Stops, No More Mister Nice Blog, Mail Online, naked capitalism, The BLT, Daily Kos, Political Mojo and Cato @ Liberty

William Kristol / Weekly Standard:

Debate Winner: Mitch Daniels — I've got to think Monday night's debate further swelled the groundswell of support for Mitch Daniels. The liveliest part of the debate was at the beginning, when Mitt went after Newt—and Republicans all over America watched with fascinated horror at the thought that these are the two GOP frontrunners.

Discussion: American Prospect, Outside the Beltway, The Gateway Pundit and New York Times

The Raw Story:

Romney's released tax return reveals 13.9% rate, holdings in foreign ‘tax havens’ — TAMPA, Fla./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released tax records on Tuesday indicating he will pay $6.2 million in taxes on a total of $45.2 million in income over the years 2010 and 2011.

Discussion: Washington Post, TBogg and Zandar Versus The Stupid

Tom Jensen / Public Policy Polling:

Newt up 5 in Florida — PPP's first post-South Carolina poll in Florida finds Newt Gingrich with a small lead. He's at 38% to 33% for Mitt Romney, 13% for Rick Santorum, and 10% for Ron Paul. — Gingrich has gained 12 points since a PPP poll conducted in Florida a week ago. Romney has dropped 8 points.

Discussion: Orlando Sentinel, Patterico's Pontifications, Shakesville, American Prospect, Ballot Box, Scared Monkeys, americanthinker.com, Wake up America, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Politico, Daily Kos, Liberal Values, Hot Air, Donklephant, Ricochet Conversations Feed and Swampland

Jon Cohen / Washington Post:

Public sours on Romney in January — The number of Americans with negative views of Mitt Romney has spiked in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, compounding the former Massachusetts governor's challenges as he tries to rally from Saturday's big loss in South Carolina.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Campaign 2012, ThinkProgress, National Review, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Daily Kos, Ricochet Conversations Feed and CNN

Dan Eggen / Washington Post:
Gingrich's former firm releases Freddie Mac contract

Discussion: New York Times and Hot Air

Nicholas Confessore / New York Times:
‘Super PAC’ for Gingrich to Get $5 Million Infusion

Discussion: Vox Popoli, Campaign 2012, Media Decoder, The Other McCain, News Desk, HotAirPundit and The Caucus

Ross Douthat:
Calling Mitch Daniels

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Washington Post, 2012.talkingpointsmemo.com, Balloon Juice, Salon.com, FiveThirtyEight, The Atlantic Online, National Review, A plain blog about politics, Zandar Versus The Stupid, COURAGE IN AMERICA, Rod Dreher, Hot Air, Outside the Beltway, Eunomia, Whiskey Fire and The Daily Caller

The Caucus:
Romney Tax Returns Show 2-Year Income of $45 Million

Discussion: Campaign 2012, Guardian, Los Angeles Times, Althouse, News Desk, Naked Politics, David Cay Johnston, Swampland, The Daily Dish, Mediaite, Gawker, Prairie Weather and DealBook

Catalina Camia / USA Today:
Mitt Romney to pay $6.2M in taxes for 2010-2011

Discussion: Tax Foundation, NewsBusters.org blogs, The Reaction and The PJ Tatler

Richard Rubin / Bloomberg:
Romney Paid 13.9% Tax Rate on $21.6 Million in 2010

Discussion: ThinkProgress, National Review, American Prospect, Talking Points Memo and ABCNEWS

Jonathan Easley / The Hill:

Gingrich won't ‘allow’ moderators to silence crowd at future debates — Newt Gingrich says he won't “allow” the moderators of future GOP presidential debates to keep the crowd out of it. — Speaking on Tuesday to Fox News, Gingrich took the opportunity that was denied him at Monday night's debate, and blasted the media.

Discussion: The Politico and Political Insider

Susan Jones / CNSNews:

Gingrich on Debate's No-Clapping Rule: 'Media Doesn't Control Free Speech' — (CNSNews.com) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says it was “wrong” for debate moderator Brian Williams to silence the “free speech” of the debate audience in Tampa. — At the start of Monday night's debate …

Discussion: The Jawa Report, 2012 Decoded, The PJ Tatler, The Gateway Pundit and Don Surber

Rachel Weiner / Washington Post:
Newt Gingrich releases Freddie Mac contracts: Read them here

Discussion: Firedoglake, ThinkProgress, Political Mojo and Naked Politics

Josh Lederman / Ballot Box:
Romney, Gingrich tussle in GOP debate

Discussion: The Hill, Bloomberg, The Politico, New York Times, ABCNEWS and Hugh Hewitt's TownHall Blog

Richard Adams / Guardian:
Republican debate in Florida - as it happened

Discussion: ABCNEWS, Liberty Street, Balloon Juice, Campaign 2012 and Washington Post

Wall Street Journal:

The GOP Deserves to Lose — That's what happens when you run with losers. — Let's just say right now what voters will be saying in November, once Barack Obama has been re-elected: Republicans deserve to lose. — It doesn't matter that Mr. Obama can't get the economy out of second gear.

Discussion: Eunomia, The Enterprise Blog and Ricochet Conversations Feed

Gary Langer / ABCNEWS:

Popularity Swings Sharply for GOP Field — Unfavorable views of Mitt Romney have soared, doubts about Newt Gingrich remain widespread and Barack Obama has advanced to his highest personal popularity in more than a year — all in advance of the State of the Union address in which Obama makes his case for a second term.

William Galston / The New Republic:
Five Things To Watch For In the State of the Union

Discussion: The Atlantic Online

Simon Tomlinson / Daily Mail:

The classiest telling off in concert hall history? Witty musical response of violinist who was interrupted mid-solo by mobile phone ringtone — It is the most infuriating addition to any performance for artist and audience alike. — While engrossed in a captivating piece of theatre …

Byron Tau / The Politico:

Buffett's secretary to join Obama — Billionaire Warren Buffett's longtime secretary will be joining first lady Michelle Obama in her box at tonight's State of the Union, White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer announced on Twitter. — Debbie Bosanek, who has worked for Buffett …

Discussion: Washington Wire, Weasel Zippers and Pundit & Pundette

Elizabeth Mendes / Gallup:

More Americans Uninsured in 2011 — However, more adults aged 18 to 26 now covered … WASHINGTON, D.C. — More American adults lacked health insurance coverage last year than in any year since Gallup and Healthways started tracking it in 2008. The uninsured rate has been increasing since 2008, climbing to 17.1% in 2011.

Discussion: ThinkProgress and The Politico

Jim Efstathiou Jr / Bloomberg:

Buffett's Burlington Northern Among Winners From Keystone Denial — Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration's decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)'s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and Big Government

Artur Davis / National Review:

Draft Jeb Bush — In the early months of the election year, a polarizing president with a lackluster approval rating bided his time as the opposition party unraveled. Its nominating fight dissolved into chaos as the establishment front-runner collapsed, and an insurgent with a talent …

Discussion: GOP 12, Hotline On Call and COURAGE IN AMERICA

Politics:

Why Romney's Taxes Matter — Not because of the details. Because we're consuming valuable time talking about them. — Romney advisers Eric Fehrnstrom (R), Stuart Stevens (2nd R) and Beth Myers (2nd to L) listen as the candidate speaks with in Tampa. — (Getty Images / Joe Raedle)

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Paul Krugman

Declan McCullagh / CNET:

Judge: Americans can be forced to decrypt their laptops — American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Discussion: The Verge, Gizmodo, Vox Popoli and msnbc.com, more at Techmeme »

Agence France Presse:

Top official says Hamas will never renounce jihad — GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Senior Hamas official Mahmud Zahar said on Monday that the Palestinian Islamist movement will never give up its armed struggled against Israel. — The statement comes as Gaza Strip officials openly attacked …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers