Tag Archives: income tax

The returning issue of Romney’s tax returns

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The returning issue of Romney’s tax returns

Tax returns are not trivial

In the land of abundance, the legal obligations of citizenship rest lightly for most Americans. With no military draft or compulsory youth service, the United States actually requires little in the way of civic obligation–that is, obligation imposed by law and justice. Jury duty, maybe. Community service, maybe, depending on your school district, but only for students in school at the time (and their parents, dragooned indirectly to chauffeur them). Showing up to vote? If you don’t want to, no one can make you. Military service, maybe, but only if you sign up, and aside from the occasional court-mediated pre-sentencing agreement for young people, there is no one in officialdom to make you sign up. We may not always find feasible transportation to work, we may not find good jobs, we may not always be able to get needed medical attention. And of course we are supposed to eschew crime. But our system of government imposes few affirmative obligations on us individually as we go about our day. That leaves taxes as one of the few government-imposed legal obligations for the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens and legal residents.

 

Whack-job signs

Thus it is either funny how much fuss the right-wing noise machine makes about government, when you think about it, or no wonder GOPers make such a fuss about taxes. If media personalities in the foaming-lips crowd want to represent the president as some kind of tyrant, they have little work with.

All this means that discussion about Mitt Romney’s tax returns, and questions about why Romney has not released them, are not trivial, silly or superficial. I respectfully disagree that the presidential candidate’s refusal to disclose his own IRS returns is a side issue.

 

Front page

Furthermore, Romney’s refusal to release his individual tax returns magnifies his inability to disclose his tax plans–tax policy–for other Americans.

 

Rep. Paul Ryan was repeatedly recommended as a vice-presidential pick before appearing in reports on Romney’s short list, before Romney took him on board Aug. 11–and not always by conservatives. In the context of taxes, former automobile ‘czar’ Steven Rattner on ABC’s This Week had this to say:

“I personally would love to see [Romney] pick Paul Ryan, because then we could actually have a decision about Romney’s economic plan, which he is not discussing, because I think when people actually understand his plan, they’ll understand all the tax things that we talked about. They’ll understand the spending implications of the Ryan budget plan in terms of what it does to Medicare, privatizing it, what it does to Medicaid, turning it into a block grant program, and then 33 percent cuts that are going to occur in a whole series of programs, including things like food stamps. Just to make his numbers work. So I would welcome Ryan and the discussion we have about it.”

The next speaker, former White House environmental advisor Van Jones, brought the Aug. 5 discussion closer to tax returns as well as to taxes:

“We’re talking about two different things here. We have a problem with Mitt Romney, because it seems that Mitt Romney doesn’t understand what ordinary people are going through. He’s talking—he’s had these magical mystery numbers about, oh, we’re going to close loopholes. When you dig down into it, the levels, what he’s calling loopholes as you are saying, are what ordinary people rely on to keep moving forward in the economy. So I think what you got here is do you want to elect somebody who won’t tell you how much money he’s making and won’t give you his tax returns, but with all he’s put on paper, will cut his taxes and raise yours. That’s the real question.”

One of Ryan’s biggest boosters, George H. W. Bush speechwriter Mary Kate Cary, pushed for Ryan in hopes that he would distract attention from Romney’s tax returns:

“This is an election about “big ideas,” and the longer it stays on small issues like Bain Capital and Romney’s tax returns, the worse Romney will do. Ryan is the intellectual leader of the party—who better to take the Republican case to voters in common sense language about how high the stakes are? Time to move from defense to offense.”

Ryan holding up budget

Moving back a little earlier in time than the presidential-campaign year, if we remember, Romney declined to weigh in on any congressional disputes over the payroll tax. Thus when congressional Republicans argued–in effect–that payroll taxes don’t count, compared to income tax, Romney offered no reasoned correction. (He has, after all, said in private that “47 percent” of Americans pay no income tax without mentioning that those people do pay payroll taxes.) Romney, the man running as CEO who can fix things, has taken little to no part in any of the fiscal policy disputes embroiling Congress. When he did take part–belatedly and reluctantly–he blew hot and cold, first over Ryan’s budget, then over the debt-ceiling deal. (Right now it looks as though Ryan is returning the favor by positioning himself for 2016, as much as working to benefit Romney.)

Hopeful Ryan with Bush Sec of State Condoleezza Rice

The refusal to release his own tax returns is one of few issues on which the GOP nominee for the White House has been consistent, and Romney has held to this one position even under heavy fire. Even in the Republican primary season, with Newt Gingrich among others calling for Romney to release his tax returns, no dice. He held to the position even when several right-wing commentators weighed in, in concert, with the same advice.

Romney himself recognizes that his unearned income, his inherited wealth and connections, and his immense fortune acquired through finance are less than political assets. He has played down the amount of money he  inherited outright–though the amount would be substantial for almost anyone else. He modestly deprecated $374,000 in speaking fees as “not very much.” He told at least one audience that he, too, feared being fired, feared getting a pink slip. The partial tax returns released do everything possible to minimize his assets abroad in the Caymans and elsewhere. And in the Oct. 18 town-hall debate, Romney even made the remarkable claim that “I came through small business.”

These are not the actions of a candidate oblivious to the impact of tax discussion.

 

Side note:

Taking a leaf from Rupert Murdoch’s book, Bain Capital over the years has invested heavily in media companies in the U.S. and abroad, one example being Clear Channel–a conduit for Bush administration communiques. Other media acquisitions and investments include Warner Music, The Weather Channel and AMC Entertainment, but completed media deals are only part of the picture; the Bain Capital track record also includes several foiled attempts (including in China). No one writes about Bain and media companies, but Bain Capital has a pattern of acquiring or trying to acquire a number of large media companies, in the U.S. and abroad. Thus, just as GOP federal-state links cemented under the GWBush administration have continued to solidify and expand–reinforced by superPACs, well-funded lobbying and party ties–so have GOP government-corporate links, including politics-media links. All signs point to a party (GOP)-government-media nexus on steroids under a Romney White House. It’s the right-wing noise machine grown more elegant, so to speak, because quieter and subtler. Gives a whole new meaning to the old term “fourth estate.”

Romney’s taxes and (almost) everybody else’s

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Which tax loopholes would Romney want to cut?

‘Loophole’ is an elastic term, defined adequately for now by the free dictionary:

“A way of escaping a difficulty, especially an omission or ambiguity in the wording of a contract or law that provides a means of evading compliance.”

Broadly defined, tax loopholes are legal ways to escape paying taxes.

Easy question: What tax loopholes right now do wealthiest individuals benefit from most?

 

Mortgage interest deduction

Quick answer:

Wealthy individuals receiving income from capital gains, including hedge fund managers, get their income taxed at the capital gains rate, i.e. a top rate of 15 percent. For some reason, buying and selling assets for money is not income the way working for money is. From a public policy standpoint, this means that some of the powers that be consider buying and selling assets more difficult than, say, laying a railroad. Or else they consider the former more socially productive–even after the mortgage-derivatives meltdown.

 

Capital gains tax and wealth

Bringing this tax issue swiftly down to the current presidential race, President Obama has supported changing this policy. There is effectively zero chance that GOP nominee Mitt Romney will support such a change. As previously written, Romney has used the capital gains advantage to great benefit in his own tax returns, and makes no bones about it. Romney’s 14 percent tax rate for 2011–voluntarily higher than it had to be, at that, and maybe temporary–has been widely reported.

Candidate Romney has been vague, to put it nicely, on what tax loopholes he would close. But this helpful article by one of the rightists at The New Republic provides a list of convenient targets. In all probability, a President Romney would look here first. First, note that almost all of these provisions–nine out of ten–benefit individuals rather than corporations (which are “people, my friends”). Furthermore, almost all of them benefit the middle class, people of ordinary wealth, income and assets.

Drum roll, please. Here are some of the top tax ‘loopholes’ in descending order of effectiveness, i.e. in taxes from the middle class lost, so to speak, to the Treasury. Reading each of these knots in the rope for the middle class, ask yourself one key question: Is there any realistic possibility that a President Romney and a Republican Congress would not target it for elimination? Note: If not, why not?

  • Employer contributions for employee health insurance/health care are excluded. Can you see a Romney-Ryan administration not trying to tax these?
  • The home mortgage interest deduction. The GOP platform coming out of the Republican National Convention left this one wide open.
  • Step-up basis of capital gains at death. With all the Republican hue and cry about inheritance taxes as a ‘death tax’, this one may be safe. Currently, capital gains on assets held at the owner’s death are not subject to capital gains tax, regardless of your income. The assets are valued at market on the date of death, again regardless of your income. Here, look out for state or county ‘recording fees’, and bank administrative fees, etc., that regressively burden a small inheritance more than a large estate. Not that one should be over-confident. Reps like Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan are entirely capable of finding additional federal ways to limit the benefit of the step-up for middle-income heirs.
  • 401(k) plans. Really. Seriously. Can you imagine a Romney-Ryan administration boosting, leaving in place or in any way supporting private pension arrangements that might benefit a large number of middle-class workers or retirees?
  • Imputed rental income is excluded. Creates an advantage for owning over renting, thus creates an advantage for stability and greater economic security for middle-class voters. Is there a realistic chance that this one would not be a target?
  • State and local taxes are deducted. Romney himself benefited heftily from this deduction, according to his 2011 IRS filing.
  • Accelerated depreciation of machinery and equipment. Can benefit most the business persons who need it most. See the bull’s-eye?
  • Capital gains. Well, there’s one in every bunch.
  • Deduction for charitable contributions. They’ve already started going after this one, so they can hardly claim they won’t be trying further. Admittedly many wealthy individuals benefit from this deduction–but so do the causes to which they donate, including House of Ruth, Disabled Veterans of America, and countless food banks.
  • Exclusions for employer contributions to employee pension plans. See the first and fourth items, above.

 

The TNR author has a valid point that many, many dollars in tax ‘loopholes’ benefit individuals in the big middle of the U.S. economy. Another way of looking at the same topic–rather than suggesting 90 percent of the population as a giant larder to be raided by the one-percenters–would see most of these exclusions and deductions as reasonable ways to shore up individuals throughout all ranks of society. Thus it would seem to be a key question for campaign 2012: Which tax loopholes, Governor Romney, would you close? Maybe that question will be asked in one of the debates. It has not been effectively posed by the national political press so far, at least not effectively enough to get a clear answer.

Meanwhile, along with the big-ticket items above that allow the middle class to survive, there are some intriguing smaller items benefiting a far smaller cohort.

See for example this piece from Andrew Sorkin, from 2011. As the author points out, an oddity of the tax code benefits day traders and speculators who buy and sell futures contracts–even in comparison with traders in stocks or mutual funds.

“For years, futures contracts, which are essentially bets on the price of commodities, stock indexes and the like, have received a more favorable tax treatment than stocks. A trader who buys and sells an oil contract in less than a year—even in a matter of minutes—pays no more than a 23 percent tax on the profits.

Compare that with the bill for flipping shares of Google, General Electric or even a diversified mutual fund in the same time period. Those short-term investment gains are treated like ordinary income, meaning the rate can run as high as 35 percent.”

The biggest beneficiaries, Sorkin continues, “seem to be day traders and speculators.  Long-term investors account for only 20 percent of the activity in the commodities future market, according to a report published last week by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the industry regulator.”

Incidentally, the fact that short-term gains can be taxed at a higher rate also means that a short-term (paper) loss can be a significant write-off. As previously written, Mitt Romney has taken full advantage of this one, too.

More in the Romney tax returns

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More on those tax returns

Following up on those Friday-release Romney tax returns, a few quick observations

Mitt and Ann Romney’s IRS tax return for 2011 is posted here.

For the record, what has not been revealed by Romney is more interesting than what has been. Still, there are some items of interest in the limited and partial two-year disclosure the Romney team has vouchsafed.

From the top:

The headliner, of course, is the large amount of money involved.

Total adjusted gross income reported:   $13,696,951.

Largest single income source is from capital gains:            $6,810,176.

Next largest income source is dividends:                               $3,649,567.

Next largest income source is interest, including as previously written U.S. government interest:              $3,012,775.

The next thing one notes is the meticulous craftsmanship of Romney’s tax preparers, PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

The meticulousness is noticeable in regard to whatever reduces Romney’s tax liability. Pages to indicate losses, expenses and deductions are filled out copiously. Numerous tax credits are claimed, large and small. Two dollars ($2) in tax credits is claimed for example under Part III, General Business Credits or Eligible Small Business Credits, for “Increasing research activities (form 6765)”. Box checked: “General Business Credit From a Passive Activity.” Another twenty-five dollars ($25) for increasing research is claimed on another page, indicating a different pass-through entity.

Capital gains seem also to be meticulously included. For example, a $39 gain is declared for “Casualty or Theft of Property Held More Than One Year.” Cryptic.

Capital losses, on the other hand, apparently total $484,913.

Note:

‘Capital loss’ seems to wiggle up or down a little, depending on which page you’re on. This is probably the key on how Romney in person addresses questions, audiences, and fora on the campaign trail. Other people are thinking in terms of ‘flip-flopping’ or issues or the like. Romney is thinking in terms of long-term gain/loss.

Romney on air

Speaking of losses and write-offs, our tax code offers among numerous other deductions an Investment Interest Expense Deduction. This deduction might well have been intended to encourage investment in, say, factories and equipment. But evidently it can also be applied to capital-gains-type ‘investment’, such as in pass-through entities in the Caymans, Germany, and Ireland.

Romney’s net investment income reported:       $2,403,311.

Investment interest expense reported:                $640,876.

His deduction:   Ditto.

So just managing the investment income costs that? Or the part of the managing expenses that can be deducted?

On another matter, the Household Employment Tax and Social Security pages are left blank. Instead, a statement: “Beginning in 2011, the payroll tax returns and all applicable taxes for personal employees were remitted on a monthly basis and reported quarterly on Form 941.” Form 941 is not included in the releases. Protecting employees’ privacy is a good. The omissions leave PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the hook for seeing to it that there’s no funny business about employees’ Social Security.

Can, meet worms.

  • Chris Hayes on MSNBC has already pointed out that the trustee named on Romney’s blind trusts is also Romney’s own attorney. Here is the posted statement from Romney’s guy.
  • As stated, Romney actually chose to pay more taxes than he had to for 2011, by claiming less in charitable contributions than the handsome amount he gave. This filing decision was made, according to Romney’s guys, in order to make Romney’s taxes conform to his previous (July) statement on his usual tax rate.
  • Tax expert David Cay Johnston has also pointed out the careful wording in this statement, particularly re ‘owed’ versus ‘paid’. Nowhere does Romney’s statement on his taxes claim that Romney paid what he owed in the given tax year.
  • Numerous commentators have also noted that this year, for example, Romney can if he chooses go back and file an amended return, i.e. after the election, and claim the rest of his charitable deductions.

Worms, meet can.

One last sub-topic, in this dry matter of tax returns.

Many, many pages of the Romney tax returns: “Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund” (Form 8621). Romney’s filing is particularly sensitive to the possible impression made by the category of foreign holdings, it would seem. Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC) holdings  in the Grand Caymans, etc., are repeatedly said to be held indirectly through Goldman Sachs (hint hint). The number of shares is always “unknown.” The dollar amounts appear to be minuscule. The large number of Form 8621’s included, demonstrating small amounts in holdings overseas, contrasts to the omission of that form about employee Social Security.

Interestingly, PFIC shares or amounts held in the Netherlands or in the Grand Caymans, etc., are UP in 2011 from 2010. Looks as if Romney was convinced in 2010 that he wouldn’t face much of a problem about them in the 2012 race. Could that have been an impression left by the 2010 elections?

Some shares in PFICs were purchased in (late) November 2010, in fact, and in December of the same year.

Narrowing down further to specifics, page after page of the tax returns indicate date acquired for PFICs as “12/14/2010.” Here, just for fun, is a Wall Street Journal article headline for that exact date: “Dems Sweat ObamaCare Ruling.”

An earlier bunch of Romney’s PFIC holdings had been acquired 9/16/2010. Sample headline for that date: “Poll: Climate grows rockier for Dems, Obama.”

Moving on–

Although the vastest sums in Romney’s wealth are capital gains, dividends and interest–unearned income–there is also a (relatively) small category of earned income. For author/speaking fees, American Talent Group LLC paid Romney $178,500. For director’s fees, Marriott International paid him $260,390.

Still, those amounts–which would be substantial for almost anyone else–are dwarfed by the capital gains category.

Short-term capital losses:             $2,292,120. Hefty write-off.

Long-term capital gain:  $9,033,933.

This over-all is the dominant pattern characterizing Romney’s tax posture: some short-term loss, far more than compensated by long-germ gain. A more precise way to interpret the facts might be, some short-term loss as a means to long-term gain. Some short-term loss paving the way to long-term gain.

It’s like buying a company, assuming costly debt/leverage, then treating the loss as another receivable–from the U.S. Treasury, in the form of tax adjustments–when subsequently selling the company.

Dade Behring is one illustration. As the New York Times reported in November 2011,

“Bain settled on a common tactic in private equity: In April 1999, it pushed Dade to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to buy half of Bain’s shares in the company—and half of those of its investment partners.

Bain pocketed the $242 million. Goldman received $121 million. Top Dade executives got $55 million, records show. The total payout to shareholders reached $420 million—nearly as much as the purchase price for Dade.”

Dade declared bankruptcy and was later bought by a German company.

Romney trusts receive more from govt for 2011 than Romney is paying in income tax

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Romney trusts receive more from govt for 2011 than Romney is paying in income tax

What was that about receiving money from the government, again?

Re-posting from Saturday, responding to a couple of quick questions and further clarifying the earlier post–

Friday p.m., Sept. 21, Mitt Romney finally released his completed tax return for 2011. Finished Monday, released Friday afternoon, in one of those document drops traditionally timed for the start of the weekend rather than for the top of the news cycle.

The filing is dated Sept. 17, 2012, right after–first business day after–public release by Mother Jones magazine of Romney’s videotaped remarks. The three blind trust filings, however, were signed Sept. 12. Safe to say the Romney team waited until after the conventions to finish the tax papers, but the timing of the release may well have been planned before the Mother Jones videotape.

Mitt Romney

For now, a quick note on the Romney trusts.

First, the W. Mitt Romney Blind Trust return for 2011 shows income for Romney’s blind trust of $664,045 from the U.S. government. Top line, after you get through the pages for extensions, etc., is income from

U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEREST: $652,018.

Shortly after that comes U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEREST REPORTED AS DIVIDENDS: $12,027.

Total for 2011: as stated $664,045.

This is interest income alone in 2011, for Romney’s blind trust, from the United States government.

U.S. savings bonds

The same story holds for the other Romney trusts.

The 2011 return for the Romney Family Trust shows

U.S. government interest income:           $662,115.

U.S. government interest in dividend form:         $90,461.

Total U.S. government interest income for the Romney family trust:       $752,576.

 

The 2011 return for the Ann Romney Trust shows

U.S. government interest income:           $362,701.

U.S. government  interest reported as dividends:             $156,157.

Total:     $518,858.

So total moneys received as interest, from our U.S. government in 2011, by the Romney trusts, came to $1,935,479.

 

A snarky person might call that the exact amount–in this category, for 2011–added by Romney trusts to the ‘national debt’ our GOPers gripe about so much.

I don’t feel that way, of course. I favor buying U.S. savings bonds. A few qualifiers, here:

One, as written previously I support buying U.S. Treasury notes, bills, and savings bonds. With interest rates low, it is a particularly patriotic thing to do, and that so many people and business entities around the globe are doing so is further evidence of the solidity of the U.S. government. Low-yielding savings bonds are a fiscally conservative form of investment and a safe place to park money.

Romney’s tax returns do not indicate when Romney or his trusts purchased the Treasury products producing this trust interest income.

Two, this interest income, handsome as it is, is dwarfed by the myriad tax write-offs allowed by our government to entities like Romney’s trusts, by the pages of paper losses and deductions Romney can legally use to reduce his taxes, and above all by the lower federal tax rate applied to income gotten by capital gains rather than by working.

But wait, there’s more. The next Q is how the blind trust returns relate to Romney’s tax return.

The Romneys’ tax return shows total adjusted gross income:      $13,696,951.

Largest single income source: capital gains:          $6,810,176.

Next largest income source: dividends:                 $3,649,567.

Next largest income source: interest:     $3,012,775.

One answer is that the Romneys’ federal interest income comes to one-seventh, or 14 percent, of the adjusted gross income declared on Romney’s IRS return for 2011. Much has been made of that percentage in the 2012 election campaign, as we recall. Saturday’s Washington Post headline on this topic said that Romney paid a 14 percent tax rate in 2011. The WP did not mention that Romney’s income tax burden was almost exactly offset by interest income the Romney trusts received from the U.S. Treasury.

Looking at the same thing another way, without the interest income from Treasury, the Romneys’ adjusted gross comes down to $11,239,472. Admittedly that total would still be enough for their simple needs.

It might also be noted, though, that the income reported is just the interest on those U.S. government products. The face value of the Treasury bonds, notes or bills does not have to be reported, and isn’t. Nor is the purchase date or the type of Treasury product purchased. It’s just money coming back into Romney accounts–the full maturity value of the EE-Series bonds or whatever, which would be a multiple of the reported interest income.

Moving from percentages to dollar amounts, Romney reports owing $1,935,708.00 in federal income tax for 2011. He reports paying $3,434,441. That’s an overpayment with refund due to Romney, according to his return, of $1,498,740. (Box checked applying it to estimated tax for 2012.)

Thus,

to the government:        $1,935,708.00

from the government:  $1,935,479.00

Difference:         $229.00

In short, by some uncanny coincidence Romney’s combined trusts received in interest FROM Uncle Sam, for 2011, almost exactly what citizen Romney is paying in income tax TO Uncle Sam for 2011.

And as stated that’s before factoring in all the offsets, credits, deductions and other means of reducing reportable or taxable income on the family IRS returns.

 

Romney’s releases re finance are posted here.

 

Romney trusts receive more from govt for 2011 than Romney is paying in income tax

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Romney trusts receive more from govt for 2011 than Romney is paying in income tax

What was that about receiving money from the government, again?

Mitt Romney

Friday p.m., September 21, Mitt Romney finally released his completed tax return for 2011.

The date on the filing is 9-17-2012. Thus it was finished right after–first business day after–public release by Mother Jones magazine of Romney’s videotaped remarks about people who don’t pay taxes and want government handouts.

Finished Monday, released Friday afternoon, in one of those document drops traditionally timed for the start of the weekend rather than for the start of the news cycle.

More on the Romneys’ return itself later. The short story is that, for all the complaining Romney’s wealthy supporters do about how much government helps the poor, our government helps the rich more, far more. But as said, later for that.

For now, just a quick note on the Romney trusts.

First, the W. Mitt Romney Blind Trust return for 2011 shows income for Romney’s blind trust of $664,045 from the U.S. government. Top line, after you get through the pages for extensions, etc., is

income from U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEREST: $652,018.

Shortly after that comes U.S. GOVERNMENT INTEREST REPORTED AS DIVIDENDS: $12,027.

Total as stated $664,045, in interest income alone in 2011, for Romney’s blind trust from our gummint.

The same story holds for the other Romney trusts.

The 2011 return for the Romney Family Trust shows

U.S. government interest income at $662,115;

U.S. government interest in dividend form at $90,461.

Total U.S. government interest income for the Romney family trust: $752,576.

The 2011 return for the Ann Romney Trust shows usgov interest income of $362,701. U.S. government  interest reported as dividends: $156,157. Total $518,858.

So total moneys received just as interest, from our U.S. government in 2011, by the Romney trusts, came to $1,935,479.

A snarky person might call that the exact amount contributed by Romney trusts to the ‘national debt’ our GOPers gripe about so much. Or anyway the exact amount so far as we know, for 2011.

 

A few qualifiers, here:

One, as written previously I support buying U.S. Treasury notes, bills, and savings bonds. With interest rates so low right now, it is a particularly patriotic thing to do, and that so many people and business entities around the globe are doing so is further evidence of the solidity of U.S. government reserves. Low-yielding savings bonds are a fiscally conservative form of investment and a safe place to park money.

(Romney’s tax returns do not indicate, so far as I can tell, when Romney or his trusts purchased the Treasury products producing this U.S. government interest income.)

Two, this interest income, handsome as it is, is dwarfed by the myriad tax write-offs allowed by our government to entities like Romney’s trusts, by the pages of paper losses and deductions Romney can legally use to reduce his taxes, and above all by the lower federal tax rate applied to income gotten by capital gains rather than by working.

But wait, there’s more.

Romney reports owing $1,935,708.00 in federal income tax for 2011. He reports paying $3,434,441. That’s an overpayment with refund due to Romney, according to his return, of $1,498,740. (He checked the box applying it to estimated tax for 2012.)

Thus,

to the government: $1,935,708.00

from the government: $1,935,479.00

Difference: $229.00

In short, by some uncanny coincidence Romney’s combined trusts received just very slightly less FROM Uncle Sam, for 2011, than citizen Romney is paying in income tax TO Uncle Sam.