Analysis: Romney paid only 13.9% tax on $22 million. Under Ryan's plan he'd have paid LESS THAN ONE PERCENT

What's wrong with this picture? Other than two chicken-hawks posing in front of a battleship...

Over at The Atlantic, business and economics editor Mathew O'Brien has been crunching numbers. He compared what Romney's tax rate for the one year of partial returns Willard has released - only 13.9% on $22 million in taxable income - to what he'd pay under Paul Ryan's plan. Are you sitting down?

Under Ryan's plan Willard would have paid an effective rate of...

LESS THAN ONE PERCENT!

This isn't speculation. This isn't a guesstimate. This is running the exact numbers from Willard's tax return using the exact numbers from Ryan's tax plan. This is fact.

From The Atlantic...

Under Paul Ryan's plan, Mitt Romney wouldn't pay any taxes for the next ten years -- or any of the years after that. Now, do I know that that's true. Yes, I'm certain.

Well, maybe not quite nothing. In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

......

But what about corporate taxes? Aren't they a double tax on savings and investment, so Romney's "real" rate is higher than his headline rate? No. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, Romney has structured his investments as "pass-throughs" that avoid corporate tax. In other words, the 0.82 percent tax rate is really a 0.82 percent tax rate.

 Apparently the Rombot has calculated that the best way to fend of questions about why he won't release his tax records, as every major candidate in this quadrant of the galaxy does, and why, despite eye popping income, he pays at a rate far lower than the average American, is to team up with a guy who would REDUCE Willard's already super low rich guys only tax rate to, essentially, NOTHING.

Yeah, boy, howdy, why, that's SURE to work, Willard! Brillyent strategery!

Of course, there is another possibility. Maybe it really is strategery. Maybe Willard figures picking an extreme far right wing, controversial, highly divisive running mate is good strategery because it worked so well last time for John McCain.