To Pay Less Taxes, Romney Gave Millions to Mormon Church

First I have to say Reuters has been doing a bang up job on election coverage this year. Their reports are probably some of the most in-depth coverage of the candidates.

Now on to the matters at hand:

(Reuters) - Using a practice that made him eligible for large tax deductions, Mitt Romney gave the Mormon church substantial stock holdings that he obtained through his private equity firm, according to documents filed with the government and to Romney associates.

To be fair, donating large sums to church organizations is a perfectly legal way of lowering your taxable income. That's not the point, however.  The point is the various strategies used by Romney to pay the least amount of taxes possible.  We know he threw millions at the Mormon Church.  But what else did he do?  Did he use overseas tax shelters to stash millions?  Did he use capital gains as income to bring the rate to a minimum of 15%?  These are all viable questions for anyone running for the presidency.  These are all viable questions Mitt's own father (who was born in Mexico) said should be answered when he ran for president in '68.

Additionally, let's look at the church issue. Romney gave millions of dollars to a religion that believes God lives on Planet Kolob. That unequivocally believes the Garden of Eden is in Jackson County, Missouri. That didn't allow black people to be members until the 1970s. That believes Joseph Smith is a prophet. That believes women can only get into Heaven through their husbands. He gave millions to this thing? Could you imagine if Barack Obama had given one penny to such an organization. And now look at the reason Romney gave millions to it: to pay the least amount of taxes possible.