Ah, he leads such a hard-knocks life of tuna, pasta and $14 million in purely investment income.
The focus on Romney’s tax returns is on how much he pays. But look at the other side of the ledger: how much he makes. In 2011, Romney earned $14 million. But as Romney himself joked in 2011, he was unemployed that year. So he made $14 million without even having a job.
That money, of course, all came from investments. But Romney didn’t even manage those investments. Someone else took charge of the decisions. Romney basically made $14 million in 2011 — putting him way, way above the top 1 percent, which starts at around $350,000 a year — because Romney was very rich in 2010, too. That’s the nice thing bout being rich: It makes you richer.
Since all of his 2011 income was made via investments, I wonder how much of that investment income came from his ownership stake in a Chinese sweatshop?
Romney defended his low tax rate on 60 Minutes last night:
CBS' Scott Pelley pressed Romney on the issue during an interview that aired Sunday night on "60 Minutes."
"Now you made, on your investments, personally, about $20 million last year," Pelley said. "And you paid 14 percent in federal taxes. That's the capital gains rate. Is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher rate than you did?"
"It is a low rate," Romney said.
No shit.