“I have paid taxes every year. A lot of taxes. A lot of taxes.” — Mitt Romney, quoted by Reuters, denying charges that he paid no federal taxes for a decade. (via)

As Dennis at Balloon Juice points out,

“Mitt could have paid—and most likely did pay—lots and lots of property taxes every year. He had three to five estates every year over the last dozen years and his taxes on just his Utah estate were over $42,000 in 2007 and over $50,000 in many other years—and that was just one of his estates. And then there would be other local taxes, state taxes and taxes on various business entities that Mitt owned. And in any year when Mitt actually worked, he would have paid Social Security on his first $106,000 of recorded income.

“Mitt could pay all those taxes and then use those payments, loopholes and shell corporations to bring his Federal Income Taxes to zero or at least a rate far, far less than the rate 95 percent of Americans pay.

“So, Mitt’s statement, “I have paid taxes every year, and a lot of taxes” is a classic non-denial denial. Of course he paid taxes. What he didn’t say was that he paid Federal Income Taxes every year. His denial is not specific about the type of taxes he paid. His Federal Income Tax payments and the amount or rate he paid for each of the last dozen years is an open question. It will continue to be a fair question to ask and to speculate about until he releases his taxes.”

Of course before you take Mitt’s word on ANYTHING, you might want to check out the 28 lies that Romney told just this past week, in Steve Benen’s weekly segment: Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXVIII.

via: questionall