Neil Cavuto opened a segment on Wednesday's Your World (1/18/12) about Mitt Romney paying a 15% tax rate instead of the top tax rate of 35% by celebrating it. "Maybe this sounds sacrilegious, but what am I missing here? Why be defensive about it? What's wrong with paying 15%?"

John Tabacco, CEO of Locatestock.com, joined in the celebration. "I say, damn right he should wear this as a badge of honor, Neil. This means that you're successful. This means that you have a long-term planning strategy… You invested in good companies, and those companies are now paying dividends… It's odd that we would villainize (sic) someone for being successful." He said Romney had an "unbelievable grasp of the tax code."

Cavuto asked, "In Mitt Romney's case, should he go on offense on this, or should he just continue to feel embarrassed?"

Tabacco suggested Romney take an arrogant approach. “I think he should go on offense. I think he should say, ‘Hey I'm better than at least 50% of Americans who right now aren't paying any federal income tax.' …We're villainizing (sic) someone for paying exactly the amount of tax the federal tax code says he should be paying… I think people should take a cue from Mitt Romney and take their investing future into their own hands, and look to invest in companies that will ultimately pay them a dividend, and grasp the tax code even better." Comment: Not everyone has the money to invest the way that Romney does, John.

Tabacco closed by ripping Occupy Wall Street "We right now have groups of people… that are standing in a park basically being terrorists, occupying areas illegally because they want a handout."

As The Atlantic notes, “in 2009, 15% was the average effective tax rate for households making between $75,000 and $100,000, in the middle quintile of U.S. families. That means Mitt Romney, a mega-millionaire, pays the tax rate as if his were a firmly middle class family, which would seem to pose a considerable political problem to a candidate fighting for middle class votes.” Rich guys like Cavuto and Tabacco can argue Romney's tax rate is a good thing but those folks far down the pay scale – but not the tax table – may have quite a different perspective.