There has been a lot of questions about Mitt Romney’s income taxes and we finally got one answer:

Q: What’s the effective rate you’ve been paying?

ROMNEY: What’s the effective rate I’ve been paying? It’s probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything, because my last ten years, I’ve, my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income, rather than earned annual income.

To put this in perspective most middle class Americans pay 25-28%. So for every dollar Mitt makes he pays about 15 cents. For every dollar middle America makes, they pay 25-28 cents. Doesn’t seem fair at all, does it?

To answer that question we’ll consult a just released Washington Post poll.

31. What do you think is the bigger problem in this country – (unfairness in the economic system that favors the wealthy), or (over-regulation of the free market that interferes with growth and prosperity)?

Unfairness: 55%
Over-regulation: 35%;

Most Americans view this system as unfair, yet the GOP goes out there and continues to push to keep it and even make it more unfair. Look at the Paul Ryan budget the House GOP approved last year. That actually increased taxes on the middle class by closing loopholes they have, yet left the loopholes in for the top 2% and even exposed new ones. It was nothing more than a middle class tax hike.

The saddest part of all of this is the fact that so many Republican voters bite into the myth that this kind of system is better for them and America. It’s not. It gives America’s largest consumption demographic less money to spend on goods. That then trickles up to less profits for the manufacturers in this country and every company along the way. That means these companies have to lay off and the economy grows stagnant.

The worst part of all of this is that we know it to be true. We saw it in the 80’s with Reaganomics. We saw it again in the last decade with the Bush tax cuts. Republican economic policies are fundamentally flawed, yet instead of admitting that and trying to adjust those policies to something that might work, the GOP ignores the facts and even lie about our history. A perfect example is Newt Gingrich. Suddenly Republicans are saying he was the reason for the economic growth of the 90’s. Before Newt was a candidate they said it was the policies of Reagan finally trickling down enough to get the economy going. They can’t admit fault so they just lie about what really happened.

Hopefully we now have more ammo for this issue to show America that the Republican way of thinking is wrong when it comes to taxes and economic policy. Americans are already seeing where the problems lie. Now we just got to convince them that the GOP wants to exaggerate those problems instead of repairing them. That right there will give Barack Obama one of the biggest boosts of the campaign.

Economic and tax policy are yawn issues, but when you can channel the outrage, they become political dynamite.