Sonny Fulks
Managing EditorA native of Piqua, and graduate of Ohio State University, Sonny Fulks pitched four varsity seasons for the baseball Buckeyes from 1971 through ’74, and furthered his baseball career as a minor league league umpire for seven years, working in the Florida State League (A), the Southern League (AA), and the American Association (AAA). He formerly authored the Fanfile and WPTW.com sports websites, and is the photo editor of Gettysburg Magazine, published by Morningside Books, in Dayton, Ohio. Involved with a number of writing projects, he’s currently writing a book on former Ohio State baseball and hall of fame coach, Marty Karow.
CONTACTGrouse and complain all you want about what Mitt Romney pays in taxes, but remember. We could all be in his shoes if we took the trouble to manage wisely.
The reports are out this week on Mitt Romney’s tax returns for 2010. Apparently he made about 21 million dollars and paid 3 million in taxes, while donating another 3 million to charitable endeavors, principally to the Mormon church.
I’m good with it, and I’d like to share some thoughts on why I’m not upset with Mitt paying a tax rate of 15%…while the majority of us pay considerably higher, 25 to 28%.
And I do this, by the way, knowing that someone’s going to write in and tell me that I have no business mixing politics with the typical content of this site. “Don’t go there,” one wrote to me recently. “You make far more sense when you stick to sports.”
Really? I’ll take the risk anyway, just for my own amusement and your edification, if you’re so inclined to read. Knowledgeable people will. Those who just hate millionaires will get mad and soil themselves, I suppose.
But hey, I own this thing, and I can write what I want…as long as it’s true. That’s what makes America great, as my late friend Bob Younger used to say…that and the opportunity to make all the money you want…if you know how.
So let me remind, all you millionaire haters, that Mitt Romney did not make 21 million in 2010 on “earned” income. If he had he would have paid well north of what you and I pay in taxes.
No, he made that money on “capital gains“, on his investments. And on capital gains revenue he paid the same 15% tax rate that’s available to you and me. You and I had the same privilege on our own returns…just not on 21 million dollars.
Obviously, Mitt Romeny started out with more money than most of us. His father, George Romney, did quite well for himself, and trust it that when he died he did not spend all he had on his funeral. Mitt just took his share of the estate and did wisely with it. And lest you scoff, let me share how you and I could do the same thing through the example of one of my college classmates.
We laughed at “John” back then because he was so tight with a buck in college that he could make tea for a week off the same teabag. Did he take the $5 he saved and buy beer with it? No, he just kept saving the same $5 week after month after year. After all, when he came to college he came from a small farm in Clinton County…with a pair of boots, some underwear, two pair of jeans, and three shirts. When he graduated with a degree in agriculture (of all things) in 1974, he still had them…that and a lot of $5 bills he saved on teabags, beer and pizza. He also had a plan.
The first thing he did was buy shares of Eastman Kodak, while living with his parents and driving the same Ford pickup he’d had since high school. He continued to save money and buy stock, good stocks, and eventually he sold his Kodak in the early 90s when selling Kodak was a brilliant move. In the meantime he kept accumulating shares in energy…oil, natural gas, and coal.
And, he accumulated something else. On a hunch that the internet would someday be the information resource that connected the world, he bought Yahoo stock. He bought a lot of it, and he bought it cheap!
In 1999, when Yahoo reached nearly its peak value, he sold…10,000 shares, at something around $100 a piece. You do the math on that. And did he go out and buy a Mercedes to replace the old pickup? An Escalade or a Suburban? Nope, he’d never buy something that frivolous that got less than 20 miles per gallon.
No, he took that money and bought real estate on the west side of Columbus, something like 300 rental units that currently lease for about $800 a month. Here’s more math…about $240,000 per month, times 12 months a year.
Did he build a mansion as a monument to himself…as justification for all the sacrifices he’d made since graduating from high school? For all the pizzas he passed on in his four years of college? Nope, he and his wife bought the family farm and he lives there and farms the same 260 acres his dad farmed, corn and beans, for the past 56 years.
When I last saw “John”, at a football game two years ago, he came wearing boots and jeans, but driving a newer truck…a 2000 model Nissan. “Gets a lot better mileage than the old Ford,” he said, quietly.
My point is…”John” has for years taken advantage of the same opportunities that people like Mitt Romney do. He was conservative, and he believed making money was more motivating than spending money. He probably still makes tea off the same teabag for a week, and I’m betting he doesn’t pay much more than 15% in taxes. He just plays by the rules, rules set up for people who invest in the system…so that others can work, save, and invest for themselves! John probably provides jobs for at least a hundred people.
It’s why I don’t hate millionaires. How can you hate someone who simply plays by the rules? I remind myself every time I’m tempted. If I were more disciplined and patient, I could have done the same things myself.
“John” is 60 years old now, and told me two years ago that he’d just come back from spending two weeks in California…for the first time in his life. Never been to Europe. Never been to Hawaii. Never been to Latin America. Few of us are that disciplined! Jealous…yes. Disciplined…no.
I could have done it. You could have done it. The point is everyone in America can play by the same rules…if you’re smart enough to play at all.
I repeat. I can’t…and you can’t…hate millionaires. Not if you appreciate people willing to take risks. Not if you want a job.
My only regret? I’m thinking today I should have bought Yahoo stock…instead of a website!
