Don't Mess With Taxes

The battle to win the Republican presidential nomination has heated up, with taxes being a hot topic last week.

So it's no surprise that the campaign related tax posts dominated last week at my other tax blog.

Mitt Romney finally released his tax returns, confirming what we already knew (except for that surprising first name of Willard). But what Romney's 14 percent tax rate did provide was a way to differentiate beween marginal and effective tax rates.

The other thing we learned about Romney is that he's essentially a play-it-safe taxpayer. If he'd been more aggressive, he might have paid Uncle Sam less.

Finally, the 2012 tax filing season encountered a glitch in the IRS' new anti-fraud program. It was designed to keep people from getting improper refunds. What it's done is slowed some legitimate refunds by about a week.

You can check out my new posts each Tuesday and Thursday (with an occasional Friday item thrown in for good measure) at Bankrate Taxes Blog. And if you happen to miss them there, you can find a wrap-up here each Saturday.

You also might find these items of interest:

• Comparing presidential -- and presidential wannabe -- 1040s
• State of taxes in Obama's State of the Union address
• Romney's earnings prompt renewed attention
  to carried interest taxation