KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Jon Stewart To Romney: How Do You Justify Making $57,000 A Day?

Jon Stewart To Romney: How Do You Justify Making $57,000 A Day?

HUFFINGTONPOST.COM - When Mitt Romney decided to "release the Quicken" Tuesday morning, the nation finally learned what he is really worth. Turns out, he made over $43 million in 2010 and 2011 combined -- and paid just $6 million in taxes. That makes his tax rate 13.9%, approximately what someone making $50,000 a year who isn't a venture capitalist might pay.

Right off the bat, Stewart realized how trivial the infamous $10,000 bet Romney made with Perry back in December really was ("I'll bet you whatever I make in the time it takes me to finish this sentence," he mocked). But what really made Stewart mad was the fact that Romney makes nearly $57,000 a day, more than most Americans see all year, and he doesn't even want his current job.

"How in the world do you, Mitt Romney, justify making more in one day than the median American family makes in a year -- while paying the same tax rate as the guy who scans shoes at the airport?"

Stewart also brought up a related point: that in 2007, Romney's Bain Capital was one of the companies who lobbied against a bill that would have made private equity owners pay a 35% tax rate (instead of %15, which is still higher than what Romney pays now). And yet, on the campaign trail, Romney has called the 47% of Americans who pay no income tax because they are underemployed or otherwise disabled, "unfair."

"Poor people have sh*tty lobbyists," Stewart lamented.