On Obama charity, business tax rates

I just have to respond to two letters that were published on April 24 by Priscilla Weese and Mark Van Zeelt. Ms. Weese states that President Obama gave 1 percent of his salary to charity in his 2010 taxes. In fact, the Obamas gave 14.2 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity in 2010 and 22 percent in 2011. They paid federal taxes of 26 percent in 2010 and 20.5 percent in 2011.

They also paid 4 percent in Illinois state taxes in 2011. Also remember that he gave his $1.4 Million Nobel Peace Prize to charity. He has regularly released his taxes and they are readily available in the public record for all those who are not inside the fact-free conservative media bubble.

In contrast, the Romneys have only released their 2010 return. Their effective tax rate was 13.9 percent and they gave 13.8 percent to charity, over half of which went to the Mormon church.

Ms. Weese also talks at length about a book by Arthur Brooks, president of The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. His views are controversial to say the least and do not agree with many other studies.

On to Mr. Van Zeelt. He states the corporate tax rate in the U.S. is 39.2 percent. That is the stated rate, but what really matters is the effective rate that corporations actually pay. The top rate is actually 35 percent, and the rate that companies actually pay is 23 percent for domestic companies and 28 percent for multinationals (source: Forbes website).

In fact, many companies with effective lobbyists and tax attorneys pay no taxes. We need to close all those loopholes and have a rate that is equitable for all. But pretending that companies pay 39.2 percent does not advance the discussion at all.

Jacqueline Buehring

Naperville