Why is Romney So Humble With His Moral Choice to Invest?

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Romney has been under attack for his nearly 15% tax rate, a tax rate based almost entirely on capital gains. Many citizens pay income at a higher rate that is based on income. The suggestion is that Romney is in some fashion immoral for not doing his fair share.

The reality is that the 15% he currently pays in taxes is the rate he pays in addition to what everyone else pays. Like everyone else he too suffers from income taxes, only his are in form of corporate income taxes which, as an aside, is an off shoot of viewing corporations as people. Like Buffet, much of Romney's taxes are taken at the corporate level at a rate of 35% to 40% and do not directly show up in his personal tax returns. However, they most definitely show up as lowered returns in his portfolio of investments and in his various business prospectuses. Hence, corporate taxes are reflected in his personal tax returns as lower investment income than what otherwise might have been.

But that is dry. There is a moral story here.

In this case taxes function as a penalty for a given choice. Romney made the moral choice of investing in our collective future despite the fact that he is penalized for that choice at a higher rate than he would have been had he chosen consumerism and spent his money.

Frankly, those who choose to spend their income rather than invest their income are playing an immoral game of tax avoidance, as they avoid the 15% tax on investing. Of course, not all individuals have a choice in this matter but of those who do, government sides with those who choose personal gluttony over investing in our future by punishing investment.

Thus, Romney's investments represent personal spending sacrificed for the greater good, and in a fair world his capital gains rate would be zero considering the fact that before any capital gains are realized he has paid a 35% corporate tax ... corporate taxes generated in the first instance by the very fact that he chose to invest rather than to spend.

Again, Romney has the moral high ground here, from paying more in taxes in both rate and total than most others in America to foregoing consumption in favor of investing in our communal future despite being punished for it in every instance.

And in the context of SOTU "fairness": where is the fairness in that?





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