New York Times, At 102%, His Tax Rate Takes the Cake, by James B. Stewart:

James Ross, 58, is a founder and managing member of Rossrock, a Manhattan-based private investment firm that focuses on commercial real estate and distressed commercial mortgages. “I realize I am very fortunate, and in fact I am a member of the 1%,” Mr. Ross wrote in an e-mail. His résumé is studded with elite institutions: Yale, Columbia Law School and stints at the law firms Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and Holland & Hart in Denver. Since his company fits the category of private equity, he even has carried interest, the kind of incentive compensation that enabled Mitt Romney to pay such a low tax rate.

Yet Mr. Ross told me that he paid 102% of his taxable income in federal, state and local taxes for 2010. “My entire taxable income, plus some, went to the payment of taxes,” Mr. Ross said. “This does not include real estate taxes, sales taxes and other taxes I paid for 2010.” When he told friends and family, they were “astounded,” he said.

In the midst of a national debate over tax rates and policy, I lifted the veil last week on my income tax rates for 2010, a year in which I paid 37% of my adjusted gross income (total income minus things like retirement contributions) in federal, state and city income taxes and 74% of my taxable income (after deductions like state and local taxes). …

That doesn’t mean Mr. Ross pays more in taxes than he earns. His total tax as a percentage of his AGI was 20%, which is much lower than mine. That’s because Mr. Ross has so many itemized deductions. Since taxable income is what’s left after itemized deductions like mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and state and local taxes are subtracted, it will nearly always be smaller than adjusted gross income and demonstrates how someone can pay more than 100% of taxable income in tax. …

A disproportionate number of high-rate taxpayers appear to be self-employed and many are professionals, such as lawyers, doctors, dentists and architects with mostly earned income rather than dividends and capital gains. Some are in the upper 1%, but most aren’t. …

And for those of you who questioned how I could be a business columnist and yet be such a sap, James Cramer, the host of “Mad Money” on CNBC and founder of the financial Web site TheStreet.com, disclosed that he paid a higher rate than I do. He forwarded an e-mail from his accountant estimating that he paid 45 to 50% of his AGI in income taxes in 2010.

(Hat Tip: Karla Simon.)