crickets...OK
first, while I would absolutely agree with you that there ought to be a simplification of the code and may even agree that all of the various forms of income ought be "treated the same" when a tax rate is applied....there are simply no facts to back up your statement that "income is income" because the various incomes are derived very differently and as such have been treated historically very differently with regard to taxation....it may just be a wishful "vote them all out" of type generality but we both know that neither are very likely to occur any time soon....
so if we are talking about the reality today...the two are very different, both in how they are derived, categorized.. as well as how they are taxed...
Romney is subject to various tax rates on various forms of income and expenditures just as you are subject to various tax rates on the same...you have differing rates on income, savings and investments depending on your income and investments and can take advantage of certain investments to avoid or defer taxes....seems that many jump on the "tax everyone the same bandwagon" up until they examine their own situation closely and consider what their liability might be now and in the future if they were to pay a flat rate with no deductions, tax shelters or incentives to invest
it is absolutely "blurring the line" to complain that Romney is paying a lower rate on income which is defined by the IRS as something entirely different than your own earned income(salary), which is exactly what has been said...noone has complained that Romney pays a lower rate on his investment income than they do because they pay the same and probably less...it is just disingenuous...apples and oranges...as is often said here
someome mentioned carried interest...which is 30% of Romney's income in the two years taxes that he released and derived from his time at Bain Capital, the rest is from other investments....you can certainly argue that carried interest ought to be taxed like earned income(but show me and example where earned income can be construed as a long term investment and an earner is willing to wait 1-5 years to receive the benefits of the income)
On a typical fund, it takes at least five years before the managers begin to collect carried interest, says Emily Mendell, a spokeswoman for the National Venture Capital Association.
.... there are stipulations that come with the derivation of carried interest that differ from traditional earned income that make them very different and more to the point, changing the way that carried interest is taxed would do precious little to improve the country's economic situation but I guess it might make a few people feel better and would still leave the Romney types paying 15 or so % on the other 70% of his income
if you want to argue for a 15% flat tax for all Americans on all income...I'm sure that Romney would be quite happy to support that
read this...she gets into the nuts and bolts of the topic pretty well...she is an advocate of taxing all income equally and is pretty thorough in her assesment of the whole situation
Raising carried interest tax won't solve problem