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1 Million Signatures To Recall Scott Walker

Romney Admits His Tax Rate Is About 15%, Lower Than Many In Middle Class

Santorum Staffer: Women Shouldn't Be President Because It’s Against God’s Will

Justice

Non-Citizen Troops Stay In The U.S. Military Longer Than Citizens, According To Attrition Data

By Amanda Peterson Beadle posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jan 18, 2012 at 10:15 am

Over the decade since the attacks on September 11, the U.S. armed forces have signed more than 70,000 non-citizen recruits, and those recruits have stayed in longer than their citizen counterparts during a time when the military had trouble signing enough recruits and relaxed its standards to include more people.

According to CNA, which studied attrition data from the Defense Manpower Data Center, only 4 percent of non-citizens have been discharged within three months of entering active service, compared to 8.2 percent of ctizen enlistees. After three years, 16 percent of non-citizens have left before completing initial service oblications, while 28 percent of citizens have. And the gap increases at four years, with 32 percent of citizens having been discharged yet only 18 percent of non-citizens. And CNA analysts found that the results do not change when adjusted for age, demographic, or are broken out by branch of service:

“These findings are consistent with the anecdotal evidence we gathered in our interviews of recruiters and non-citizen recruits,” wrote researchers Molly F. McIntosh and Seema Sayala.

“The interviews revealed that, relative to citizen recruits, non-citizen recruits generally have a stronger attachment to serving the United States, which they now consider to be ‘their country,’ and (they) have a better work ethic.”

Because the lower attrition rate would help the military save on recruiting and training costs, the CNA report recommends that the military branches create strategies to recruit more non-citizens, especially as the economy improves and recruiting becomes more difficult. And with falling fertility rates in the U.S., “the only source of net growth in the U.S. recruiting-age population is projected to be immigration,” according to CNA’s report.

Immigrants can enlist if they have legal permanent resident status, the education equialent to a high school diploma, and can speak acceptable English. And in July 2002, President George W. Bush signed an executive order to make any non-citizen recruit eligible for U.S. citizenship after one day of honorable service during a time of war. Without citizenship, members cannot gain security clearance, limiting the enlisted slots they can fill.

CNA’s statistics underscore what a key role immigrants have in the U.S. military. And while the report did not cover potential effects of the DREAM Act, it highlights how helpful the DREAM Act — which provides a path to lawful residence for undocumented immigrants who serve in the military — would have been for military recruiting by opening up a larger pool of qualified potential applicants. Rather than trying to discourage immigration or barring paths to citizenship for people who want to serve their adopted country, lawmakers and military officials should take this as an opportunitiy to only increase recruitment of immigrants and let them become U.S. citizens.

Economy

Romney-Endorser Chris Christie: ‘I Would Urge’ Romney To Release His Tax Returns

By Alex Seitz-Wald posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jan 18, 2012 at 9:25 am

Defying 50 years of precedent set by presidential candidates from both parties, Mitt Romney has so far refused to release his income tax returns, despite calls from the other GOP candidates to do so. Yesterday, he admitted that his effective tax rate is probably about 15 percent — much lower than that of many middle-class families — and said he will probably release his returns in April if he wins the nomination, but only for 2011, which could allow him to hide any embarrassing tax shelters or income sources from previous years.

Now it seems even Romney’s supporters are uncomfortable with his evasiveness on his tax returns. On MSNBC’s Morning Joe today, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), one of Romney’s most prominent endorsers who has campaigned with the GOP hopeful on the trail, urged Romney to release his tax returns for several years back:

CHRISTIE: First of all, listen, the way I’ve conducted myself in public life all a long is I’ve released all of my tax returns. And I did it during the campaign. I went back a number of years and released my tax returns. And I released them every year after I filed them, right after I filed them to the public of New Jersey so they can see everything, and I think that’s the right way to go and that’s what I would tell governor to do.

He says he’s going to release them in April, and I hope he does. The fact of the matter is that’s what I would advise him to do…That’s the way I’ve conducted myself in public over time, and I were asked by governor Romney, that’s what I would urge him to do as well.

Watch it:

It’s worth noting that Romney’s father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg News notes that it’s understandable why Romney is reluctant to release his returns: “Romney, one of the richest men to seek the presidency, probably benefits from a controversial tax break that allows him to pay a lower overall rate than do millions of American wage-earners.”

Politics

Morning Briefing: January 18, 2012

By ThinkProgress on Jan 18, 2012 at 9:00 am

Fewer than one-tenth of the nation’s metropolitan areas have regained the jobs that were lost in the economic downturn, according to a new report from the United States Conference of Mayors. Mayors expressed frustration at Congress’ inaction on measures to help with the lingering economic crisis.

To protest two Internet-regulation bills, websites like Wikipedia, Reddit, and others have gone dark today to show what could happen if the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate’s Protect IP Act went into effect. Both bills attempt to halt foreign websites that sell pirated or counterfeit goods, but tech companies say the laws are too burdensome and overreaching.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is vowing to push ahead with his controversial anti-piracy bill in the face of the protests. Smith dismissed the website blackouts as a “publicity stunt” and said his committee would continue the markup of SOPA even though other GOP lawmakers have called the bill dead.

Sixty-five percent of voters who are aware of the Citizens United decision believe that unlimited campaign spending through Super PACs is negatively affecting elections, according to a new poll. The concern spans party lines, with 63 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans who are aware of Citizens United remaining critical of the third-party influence.

The National Science Board reported yesterday that in the past decade, the U.S. has lost more than a quarter of its high-tech manufacturing jobs to overseas operations. As American lawmakers seek to make U.S. manufacturing more competitive, they are being outpaced by Asian counties that have expanded their science and engineering capabilities.

President Obama yesterday tapped Jeffrey Zients to serve as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, a position vacated by Jack Lew, who is taking over as White House Chief of Staff. While having not worked on budget issues, Zients has written plans to restructure government agencies and prepared the contingency plan when Congress came close to shutting down the government last year.

While Wisconsin labor activists and Democrats scored a major victory yesterday by turning in 1 million signatures to recall Gov. Scott Walker (R), the GOP successfully delayed action by winning a court order that requires state election authority to check for duplicate and fake signatures, which could take until late spring.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) failed to stop Virginia from printing ballots for its GOP presidential primary without his name after a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling. Fellow candidate Newt Gingrich, who also didn’t make the Virginia ballot, has filed an appeal with the same court.

And finally: In honor of her 90th birthday, President Obama sent a video message to actress Betty White and asked to see her long-form birth certificate, considering she appears in very good health for someone her age.

For breaking news and updates throughout the day, follow ThinkProgress on Facebook and Twitter.

Education

Michigan Democrats Unveil Plan To Finance Free College Tuition By Eliminating Corporate Tax Credits

By Tanya Somanader posted from ThinkProgress Education on Jan 17, 2012 at 8:00 pm

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) spent his first year in office trading in the welfare of thousands of vulnerable Michiganders in order to cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy. Hoping to refocus priorities in 2012, the state’s Senate Democrats have released a new plan that puts Michigan students ahead of wealthy corporations.

Under the Michigan 2020 Plan, Michigan’s high school graduates will be eligible for free tuition at one of Michigan’s community colleges or universities, where the median tuition level is currently around $9,575 per year. The program will be funded entirely by eliminating $3.5 billion in tax credits and loopholes and putting that money towards students:

“Study after study after study has emphasized the importance of a highly educated workforce in the economic vitality of any state in the 21st century,” said Senate Democratic leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing.

Michigan currently pays out roughly $34 billion in tax credits. Under the Michigan 2020 Plan recently unveiled, $3.5 billion in tax credits and loopholes would be eliminated. Democrats put the tuition proposal’s cost at least at $1.8 billion. [...]

Under the plan, graduates who spent their entire K-12 years in Michigan schools would be eligible for the full award, which equates to the median tuition level of all public universities — currently $9,575 per year. Those who attended school for awhile outside the state would get a percentage of that amount.

College tuition has tripled in the last 30 years and is only trending upwards. Indeed, college price tags could get as high as $422,000 come 2034. And with student loans increasingly hard to find in a restricted credit market, families could certainly use the help in sending their children to a college close by.

What’s more, Michigan Senate Democrats note that the elimination of $3.5 billion in tax loopholes is only a 10 percent reduction in the tax credits the state already doles out. In fact, the program costs almost exactly as much as the $1.7 billion tax cut Snyder implemented for corporations.

The plan should appeal to Republicans as “it can be done without raising taxes one cent,” said Whitmer. “It’s not about whether Michigan can afford to do this, it’s whether we can afford not to.”

NEWS FLASH

Perry Stands By Claim That Turkey Is Run By ‘Islamic Terrorists’ | During last night’s GOP presidential debate, Rick Perry suggested that Turkey is run by “Islamic terrorists” and said the American NATO ally should be kicked out of the Atlantic Alliance. The Turkish Foreign Ministry chastised Perry today, saying that candidates for president “should be more knowledgeable about the world.” Today on CNN, host Wolf Blitzer asked Perry if he’d like to take back his comment. “No, not at all,” Perry said. The Texas governor then suggested that the Turkish government is sanctioning “honor killings.” “If they are treating their citizens that way, than they approach that terminology,” he said. Watch the clip:

NEWS FLASH

Perry, Gingrich Say They Would Do Away With NLRB If Elected | COLUMBIA, South Carolina — Two Republican presidential candidates would do away with the National Labor Relations Board if elected, they said Tuesday at a forum sponsored by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce. The NLRB has come under fire from the GOP since it blocked Boeing from moving a plant to South Carolina to punish striking workers in Washington state. When asked what the NLRB would look like in his administration, Texas Gov. Rick Perry replied succinctly, “There wouldn’t be one.” Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, asked the same question, offered a similar response. “If I were Speaker of the House right now, I would have defunded the NLRB,” Gingrich said, before adding that he was exploring whether he’d have the authority to sign an executive order ending the agency.

Health

GOP Senator: We Need ‘Child Labor’ To Fight Obesity Epidemic

By Marie Diamond posted from ThinkProgress Health on Jan 17, 2012 at 5:35 pm

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)

At a recent town hall in Osage, Iowa, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R) responded to a question about the Labor Department’s stricter limits on child labor by claiming that they could exacerbate the child obesity epidemic by making kids less “active”:

Concern was raised about the proposed Department of Labor’s intent to greatly limit child labor on family farms.

“This farm bill will greatly affect our FFA and 4-H programs,” said Grassley. “Kids won’t be able to help on farms not owned by their parents.

“It’s interesting that this child labor bill goes against Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative,” said Grassley. “How can kids be active if they are limited by this law?“

Grassley represents a farm state that both relies on child labor and contributes to the national obesity epidemic through its production of corn products like high-fructose corn syrup. Iowa farmers benefit from billions of dollars in corn subsidies that allow them to put a glut of cheap, unhealthy foods on the market.

As for his Dickensian defense of child labor, that’s sadly par for the course for Republicans these days. Several GOP-led states have rolled back child labor laws. In December, seventy rural state lawmakers led by Rep. Danny Rehberg (R-MT) denounced the Labor Department’s new protections for the country’s most vulnerable workers. They argued that hard manual labor teaches children important “life lessons.”

Under current law, 400,000 children working on farms are not protected from exploitation and dangerous labor. The proposed rules would forbid children younger than 16 from working with pesticides, timber operations, handling “power-driven equipment, or contributing to the “cultivation, harvesting and curing of tobacco.”

Contrary to Grassley’s suggestion, the physical activity children endure during farm labor is no picnic. The fatality rate for child farm workers is four times higher than that of nonagricultural child workers.

Many Republicans have mocked First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity initiative, but Grassley in particular has powerful financial motivations for supporting some of epidemic’s worst culprits. As a member of the Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry committee, he’s raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the Food & Beverage, Food Processing & Sales, and Agricultural Services and Products industries.

Justice

Pennsylvania Bars Man From Elected Office Because He Served Time In Jail

By Tanya Somanader posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jan 17, 2012 at 4:45 pm

Gary Mitchell

Gary Mitchell of New Castle, Pennsylvania is a rare example of a public servant. In 2002, Mitchell was found guilty of two drug-related felonies. But after serving a reduced sentence and turning his life around, Mitchell decided to run for city council. After being open with New Castle voters about his record, Mitchell and two others were elected to serve. But because the Pennsylvania Constitution bars any person convicted of an “infamous crime” from holding office, the state wants to prevent Mitchell from taking his seat:

The state Constitution says, “No person hereafter convicted of [an] infamous crime, shall be eligible or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this Commonwealth.”

“I can run, I can win, and citizens can elect me, but the state will not allow me to take oath. Who runs the law? I thought the Constitution was for the people and by the people, and the people have spoken,” Mitchell said.

The state Supreme Court has ruled that any felony is an “infamous crime.”

Mitchell appealed to Lawrence County Judge John W. Hodge last Friday, noting that he had applied for clemency with the state Board of Pardons. He asked the judge to dismiss or stay the state’s attempt at his removal until the board rules on his request. Hodge rejected his request within less than an hour of hearing his argument.

Voters who elected Mitchell are incensed by the decision. “They took his money and then when he wins, which I don’t think they expected him to, they won’t let him serve. That’s not right,” said the Rev. Linda Martinez. Indeed, such an denial of office flies in the face of rehabilitation and pushes an overly targeted group of people further away from participation in the democratic process. After all, 13 percent of adult African-American men like Mitchell are currently prevented from voting — let alone from holding office — because of a previous conviction.

Mitchell promised to pursue his right to serve: “It doesn’t make me bitter, but it does rile me up for a fight.”

Economy

Have Banks Been Robo-Signing Credit Card Documents Too?

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jan 17, 2012 at 3:55 pm

Several months ago, the nation’s biggest banks became embroiled in the “robo-signing” scandal, when it became clear that they had been approving thousands of foreclosures without verifying the proper documents or guaranteeing borrowers due process. The banks submitted fraudulent documents to courts and were forced to halt their foreclosures processes entirely as they sorted out what happened. “I had no idea what I was signing,” said one Bank of America employee. “We had no knowledge of whether the foreclosure could proceed or couldn’t, but regardless, we signed the documents to get these foreclosures out of the way.”

Robo-signing people into foreclosure is bad enough. But as it turns out, the practice may not have been limited to residential mortgages. American Banker, in fact, notes that JP Morgan Chase may also have been robo-signing credit card deals:

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has quietly ceased filing lawsuits to collect consumer debts around the nation, dismissing in-house attorneys and virtually shutting down a collections machine that as recently as nine months ago was racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in monthly judgments…It is unclear whether Chase has stopped pursuing collection on many claims nationwide, or if intends to pursue the debts in some other fashion. The bank has not explained its apparent moratorium and declined comment.

Chase’s halt does, however, follow scattered defeats in state courts and a whistle-blower’s allegation that it falsely overstated the balances of thousands of delinquent accounts it sold to a third party. Former Chase employees and debt collection experts insist that the bank would not have abruptly retreated from its collections efforts in the absence of trouble. [...]

Robo-signing, or the high-volume production of signed legal documents, has been a key element of the governmental and media foreclosure reviews. Chase’s current pullback raises at least the possibility that at least some banks may have documentation problems in other business lines…”If sloppy record keeping and problems with false affidavits is a problem with mortgages, it’s 100 times bigger in credit card accounts,” says Michelle Weinberg of the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago.

As one finance blogger put it, “When a bank leaves money on the table for no obvious reason, you know that something’s not quite right.” It seems that JP Morgan, and who knows how many other banks, were attempting to collect on debts without being certain that the amount they were asking for was accurate. One whistle blower looked at $200 million in JP Morgan customer accounts and claims to have found that “half the accounts lacked adequate documentation of judgment and one-sixth listed the wrong amounts owed.”

Banks have been robo-signing documents since as least 1998, as an Associated Press investigation found, and its not all that surprising that a practice that worked so well for so long (at least in the eyes of the banks) would have migrated to other areas.

NEWS FLASH

Poll: Most Think System Favoring Wealthy Is A Bigger Problem Than Over-Regulation | Asking an incisive question that gets to the heart of today’s political and economic debates, the new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that a majority of Americans think that inherent “unfairness in the economic system that favors the wealthy” is a bigger problem than “over-regulation of the free market.” The question boils down the key difference between the world views and policy prescriptions of the progressive and conservative movements, and finds that most Americans agree with progressives here, 55 percent to 35 percent. As Greg Sargent notes, “moderates see economic unfairness on behalf of the wealthy as a bigger problem than market overregulation by 59-29.”

NEWS FLASH

BREAKING: Walker Recall Effort Delivers More Than 1 Million Signatures | Activists working to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) filed petitions today with more than 1 million signatures to the state, close to double the amount they needed to begin the recall process and force Walker to stand for reelection in November. If successful, it would be the first gubernatorial recall in Wisconsin history, and only the third in U.S. history. The number of signatures comes close to the 1,128,941 votes Walker received, and was far more than the 540,000 needed.

Update

Ed Schultz tweets this photo of activists submitting the signatures:

NEWS FLASH

Pennsylvania Slashes 88,000 Children From Medicaid Rolls | The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare reveals that 88,071 children were cut from the Medicaid rolls since August as a result of the department Secretary Gary Alexander’s (R) efforts to “reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.” Alexander ordered an increase in eligibility reviews of beneficiaries in July and, now 80 percent complete, the reviews have resulted in the slew of cuts. The numbers don’t count an additional 23,000 children that DPW cut but eventually restored after the families secured legal help. Advocates note, however, that “poorer people may be less likely to call a lawyer, and child advocates believe thousands have no idea they are now uninsured.” DPW is also enforcing a stricter food stamp eligibility requirement that disqualifies any low-income Pennsylvanian with $2,000 or more in assets, as they are “too rich” for aid.

Justice

Gingrich: I ‘Don’t See’ Why Calling ‘Food Stamps’ An African-American Issue Is Insulting

By Ian Millhiser posted from ThinkProgress Justice on Jan 17, 2012 at 1:30 pm

Earlier this month, former Speaker Newt Gingrich made the offensive claim that his policies should appeal to African-Americans because he will “talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps” — as if receiving federal food assistance was a universal component of the black experience in the United States. When confronted with these remarks at last night’s GOP debate, however, Gingrich was utterly dismissive of the mere suggestion that they might be insulting:

JUAN WILLIAMS: Speaker Gingrich, you recently said black Americans should demand jobs, not food stamps. You also said poor kids lack a strong work ethic, and proposed having them work as janitors in their schools. Can’t you see that this is viewed, at a minimum, as insulting to all Americans, but particularly to black Americans?

GINGRICH: No, I don’t see that.

Watch it:

It’s deeply disturbing that a man who claims he should be president of the United States cannot understand why his remarks are offensive. The overwhelming majority of African-Americans are not on food stamps. Indeed, the majority of people who receive food stamps are white. Most recipients are also either children or seniors who are of retirement age. In 2010, working women represented only 28 percent of recipients, and working-age men represented only 17 percent.

Gingrich’s suggestion that food stamps are somehow a preeminent black issue flies in the face of reality. Worse, it lumps all African-Americans together as federal aid recipients when the overwhelming majority of working-age black men and women are self-supporting taxpayers. Thousands of them are professionals such as doctors or lawyers. One of them is the President of the United States.

Sadly, Gingrich’s snide answer earned an enthusiastic response from the largely white, Republican audience at the debate. The only thing more disturbing than the fact that Gingrich cannot understand why his comments are so deeply offensive is the fact that his ignorance is shared by others.

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NEWS FLASH

Anti-Labor Koch Brothers Launch $6 Million Solyndra ‘Workers’ Attack Ad | The Koch-backed Americans For Prosperity has rolled out its latest attack against the clean energy economy in its election-year campaign against President Obama. The petrochemical Tea Party group released a $6 million ad on Monday in battleground states Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Virginia, and Iowa, distorting the facts on the Solyndra solar company. The Kochs, who have hosted fundraisers for Mitt Romney and are notorious for their anti-worker actions, accuse Obama of “cronyism” and using workers as “pawns” in the ad.

Politics

The 10 Most Outrageous Facts About Virginia’s New Senate Candidate Bob Marshall

By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jan 17, 2012 at 12:20 pm

Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall (R)

Infamous Virginia State Delegate Bob Marshall (R) threw his hat into a crowed GOP field to fill Virginia’s open Senate seat today. Marshall has made a name for himself by pursuing anti-gay and anti-women’s choice legislation with more zeal than hardly any other politician in the country, but has dabbled in far-right legislation across the policy spectrum.

Some of Bob Marshall’s greatest hits:

1. Suggested that children born with disabilities are God’s punishment to women who have previously had abortions. “When you abort the first born of any, nature takes its vengeance on the subsequent children,” he said.

2. Warned homosexual behavior “undermines the American economy” in an angry letter to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond after it flew a rainbow flag. The flag “celebrated” homosexual acts, which Marshall said are Class 6 felony in the state. He has also called homosexuality a “disordered behavior.”

3. Warned repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) will “jeopardize our alliances,” especially with Muslim countries, because foreign troops will refuse to fight alongside gay Americans.

4. After DADT was repealed, introduced legislation banning “active homosexuals” from joining the Virginia National Guard.

5. Called the Affordable Care Act “criminal” and an attempt to steal “your soul.”

6. Thinks the best answer to school shootings is to arm professors, sponsoring a bill to “allow faculty members to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.”

7. Advocated unconstitutional bills to allow Virginia to ignore laws passed by the U.S Congress.

8. Sponsored a bill to require schools to designate a 5-minute period each day for students to “read morally or ethically relevant materials.”

9. Sponsored a bill that would make the use of profane, indecent, or threatening language in a personal e-mail a misdemeanor.”

10. Sponsored the “Marshall-Newman” anti-gay marriage amendment in 2006, which was written so broadly that many warned it could “undermine the rights of all unmarried couples to enter into contracts, enforce wills and child custody agreements or receive the protection of domestic violence laws.”

Despite his impeccable right-wing credentials, Marshall will have stiff competition for conservative voters in the race from tea party organizer Jamie Radtke, fringe-conservative minister E.W. Jackson, and businessman David McCormick, who are all running to the right of frontrunner George Allen, the former senator best known for using the racial slur “macaca.”

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Economy

Romney Admits His Tax Rate Is About 15 Percent, Lower Than Many Middle Class Families

By Pat Garofalo posted from ThinkProgress Economy on Jan 17, 2012 at 11:35 am

Citizens for Tax Justice a few months ago estimated that Mitt Romney, due to most of his income coming from investments, pays a tax rate of around 14 percent, a far cry from the 35 percent top income tax rate. Romney then confirmed that the bulk of his income does, indeed, come from investments (and is thus subject to the top capital gains tax rate of 15 percent), but he has refused to release his tax returns in order to reveal the definitive tax rate that he pays.

However, during a press conference on the campaign trail today, Romney did give a glimpse into his finances, confirming that he pays “closer to the 15 percent rate”:

Q: What’s the effective rate you’ve been paying?

ROMNEY: What’s the effective rate I’ve been paying? It’s probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything, because my last ten years, I’ve, my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income, rather than earned annual income.

Watch it:

As Center for American Progress Director of Fiscal Reform Seth Hanlon has explained, the latest data shows that “many middle-class families paid much more [in taxes] than the 17.5 percent average paid by the very rich.” When President Obama suggested the “Buffett rule,” aimed at ensuring that millionaires can’t pay lower taxes than middle class families, Romney derided it as “class warfare,” and “the wrong way to go.”

One of the reasons Romney is able to drive his tax rate down so low is that he is still earning money from his private equity firm, Bain Capital, that is likely subject to a pernicious tax loophole. This loophole lets wealthy money mangers like Romney pay the capital gains tax rate on profits they make investing other people’s money, turning the justification for having a lower capital gains tax rate completely on its head.

During the same press conference, Romney said that he only makes some income from speaker’s fees, “but not very much,” which is money that would be taxed at normal income tax rates. From Feb. 2010 to Feb. 2011, Romney earned $362,000 in speaker’s fees.

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