After Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) and the editorial board of National Review called for Mitt Romney to release more tax returns, it seemed possible the intra-party strife on this would end for a while as the dust settled. Instead, the opposite is happening, with new GOP calls for more disclosure.
Sen. Dick Lugar (R-Ind.), a presidential candidate himself in 1996, became the latest to weigh on the subject, saying it would be "prudent" for Romney to disclose more. "I have no idea on why he has restricted the number to this point," the senator said. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was asked the same question, and conceded, "I'd have to say yes."
Complicating matters a bit, The Hill reported that "several" Republican senators said they expect Romney to disclose more tax returns within the week, and Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) cited a source within the campaign who said the candidate would disclose more "in the coming days."
While we wait to see if that happens, it turns out that the one year of materials we do have -- Romney released his 2010 returns earlier in the year -- may be incomplete, leaving the public with zero full reports to scrutinize. The Huffington Post reports that documentation related to his Swiss bank account is legally required, but has not been released. Does this really matter? Actually, it does.
By serving as a curtain between Romney's U.S. accounts and his foreign holdings, Romney's Swiss account could shield many financial activities from American scrutiny. Hypothetically, any politically unpopular investments, clever and complex asset sales designed to lower Romney's tax bills or other activities would be far more difficult to decipher.
Greg Sargent also had a good report on this, stressing the importance of understanding how Romney may have gone about reducing his tax liabilities. When Greg checked with the Tax Policy Center's Joseph Rosenberg about this, he confirmed that today's revelation is another piece in the broader pattern: "There could be assets abroad that wouldn't necessarily be shown in the standard tax return, but would be on this other sort of disclosure form. What are these accounts, and what is the purpose for having them?"
For its part, the Romney campaign officially, on the record, said it's "not true" that there were years Romney paid no taxes at all. We don't know if this denial is accurate -- we would need the hidden tax returns to say for sure -- and it doesn't preclude the possibility that there may have been many years in which Romney almost no taxes at all.
At this point, Team Romney also has not yet explained the need for so much secrecy.
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It's where he's hiding his ownership of the company that disposed of aborted fetuses, something the Xtian Right is going to just looooooove when it comes out.
So, all you people that are soooo pleased with the results of Pelosi, Reid and Obama - you are OK with 8.2% unemployment and REAL unemployment and underemployment at 15% for 41 months? 47 million now on foodstamps? 56% receiving some form of financial assistance from the government? 49% paying NO income tax? 5.6 trillion in new debt with no real results in 31/2 years - making our total national debt nearly 16 trillion? 13 trillion in underfunded public sector pensions and over 100 trillion in unfunded mandates, fiscal liabilities and encumbrances - even though we only take in 2.4 trillion in total tax revenues each year and spend 4 trillion - thus Borrowing 40 cents on every dollar just to break even? Oh thats right- most Democrats are receiving some form of government largesse and have been brainwashed to believe that the government exists solely to provide you with everything you cannot, or will not provide for yourselves, in return for votes. Democrats have been in total control of Congress for 38 out of the last 50 years. Do you REALLY believe that the USA can continue these insane deficit spending policies and your "Free stuff" will just keep coming FOREVER?
semperfi...
I have not taken"free stuff" from the government. Never have. There was a surplus from the Clinton Administration that the Bush Administration squandered on war. Their bad fiscal policies crashed the economy. Who made this mess? Not I nor the Democrats.
I hope Romney doesn't release any more tax returns. Watching his candidacy slowly bleed support is gratifying. By the Republican convention, he will be hemorrhaging support. Panic will spread throughout the Republican party because every other Republican candidate will be trying to save his skin even if it means throwing Romney under the bus.
So he can't even let out all of one year, and is waiting until right before the election to finish last year's taxes... the very soul of transparency and trustworthiness, Mitt is.
Whoops, left my sarcasm switch set to on.
Give the man a break. It must be hard to A)find accountants willing to go to jail B) find a way to sign that darn bottom line that makes you accountable for the lies you paid for . So he needs to either stall or come up with a good spin.
Ohhh, the trials and tribulations of being filthy rich and trying to screw Uncle Sam the way you screw your peons.
I tried to bet Rick Perry $10,000 that Mitt won't release any more returns. But Rick wouldn't take the bet.
Shoot I reckon he is brighter than a Bush.
Given the lack of objective evidence, I'd have to call that a faith-based assertion.
Good one!
Maybe Romney doesn't want the Mormon Church to see his tax returns. Maybe he didn't tithe the percentage that he said he did.
No way Rmomoney will release his tax returns..
He knows they will sink his bid for President...
I wonder at some point Romney may just say, I quit, this isn't as much fun as I thought it was going to be. Wonder what the billionaire donors would think of that.
Rachel - An article on HuffPo suggested that the real reason he's not releasing his returns is he might have taken advantage of the amnesty in 2009 for tax-evaders to come clean on their Swiss accounts. The 23 years released to McCain were pre-2008.
BTW: Love you & your show!
He's gonna quit. He is going to be the first presidential candidate to walk rather than reveal how much money he's hidden away. He knows that he won't be able to get away with whatever he is hiding if he releases his taxes.
He's already said that if he knew ahead of time how much scrutiny his taxes would be under that he wouldn't have run. I'm willing to bet he didn't think he would get this far...but with lots of rich friends and a comical collection of primary opponents he managed to find his way to now.
Hell, he's used to having the way 'paved' for him to succeed. But he certainly as hell isn't used to having to answer to anybody for his decisions.
Romney's done.
Fugudaddy, my thoughts, exactly.
When is the GOP going to suggest he step down?
Rachel - It is being said now that the real reason he won't release his returns is because he is involved up to his eyebrows in the Swiss tax evasion scandal of 2009. Everything he gave to McCain was pre 2008.
BTW: Love you & your show!
Or maybe his $100 million IRA was the beneficiary of a massive market short in 2007/2008. Have a market account in the IRA, use it to sell short backed by Romney's credit (itself backed by other accounts.) Possibly illegal, since the net effect in a random market would be a forbidden transfer into the IRA, but not necessarily something that's going to get caught.
Your 2012 blue-collar worker who lost his house in 2010 to the slag-down is not going to be happy seeing a Presidential candidate who made $100 million betting against the US economy and managed to avoid paying any taxes on it to boot.
Forget the tax returns. I want to know what we're going to do about the 8.2% unemployment, rising gas prices, mortgage and company foreclosures. Let's focus on economy and jobs.
If we all open accounts in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands, it'll make more jobs at the IRS. Does that count?
Tax cuts for rich people, tax increases for the bottom 20%, dismantling Medicaid and health care reform, turning Medicare into a vanishing voucher for private insurance no one is offering, and undoing all of the regulation on the financial sector since the crash. He's already told us that. Unfortunately, it's so cartoonishly evil that the only way people will believe it is if they see his returns.
This whole mess with this Romney is really something. Romney is a person who claims to want to be fair to everyone and what does he do but the worst things. And this Romney claims to be a charitable person in which he donated to the Mormon/LDS money machine and basically nothing to help poor people. These extreme rich people want to claim fairness. When they haven’t even been fair or treated anybody fairly in their entire lifetime, except to push lies and deception upon others. The average American has looked and done fairness and what have they gotten for their efforts a royal screwing. These rich people are nothing but a disgusting lot and have never done anything close to what is ethical or moral, except to keep taking and taking at any cost to others. These blood-sucking leeches need to get out of our government and stay out. We don’t need anymore of your senseless wars and stealing the American and World people blind. No matter how these blood-sucking leeches try to justify what they do there is no excuse, especially how all the facts show how worthless they really are to anything good and right. So easily Romney can throw a Gardner down the steps as his sons stand by and laugh, what kind of sick bastard is this? And so easily Romney can do things to inflict pain upon others without any remorse that truly is a Political Psychopath and a very sick man.
Be fair. The Church at least does a pretty decent job of taking care of their own. They make sure that their people have a roof, clothes, and something to eat (which is better than the USA overall.) That may involve working for the Church on a farm or whatever, but all in all not the worst community welfare system around.
And, no, I'm not a fan of the Church. I do try to call 'em honestly, though.
Unfortunately the Mormon/LDS still lacks the concept though of love your neighbor, helping the poor, and the good samaritan being better than someone of your own faith. Nope I don't buy your stated rhetoric, because they are too biased against everybody else and nothing to do what it is to be Christian. That so-called church is nothing but a money machine in which Jesus would come and overturn their money tables and is nothing close to a house of worship.
It's Happy Hour people...Let's have a good old fashioned sing-a-long;
For Mitt's a jolly good felon, for Mitt's a jolly good felon, for Mitt's a jolly good felon that nobody can deny.
That nobody can deny, that nobody can deny....
For Mitt's a jolly good felon that nobody can deny...
Drink up everybody. Cheers.
Here is a speculation. How was Romney’s company name created? First, considering how Romney was when he was a child being arrogant and spoiled as he considered everyone needed to conform to what he wanted him or her to be. Note the teenager he had others hold down to brutally cut his hair. Demanding this teenager to conform to Romney’s standards. Plus the very fact that Romney wants to be the authority over everyone. Note the police uniform as he drove around stopping people to dictate his policies upon others. It is very simply that Romney likes to inflict Pain upon others as if everyone must conform to what Romney wants or watch out you will pay the price like a Dictator would do to others. But you see Romney couldn’t have his company name look so obvious, so a loop was added to the P to make a B. Thus the equivalent of Bain Capital is really Pain Capital. Since it is really what Romney does enjoy a lot and that is inflicting Pain on others as he gains extreme wealth.
If the claim about never having paid zero is true (which I'm not willing to grant, given the campaign's nonstop lying), I just thought of another aspect of his returns that may be giving his campaign advisers fits. He may well have tax refunds of tens of thousands of dollars or more. While it's true that this doesn't mean he didn't pay taxes (if more was deducted or sent as quarterly payments), it's also true that most people don't understand the difference between a tax refund and taxes paid, as we see every April when many people eagerly await getting their big refund, even though that actually means that they overpaid.
A tax refund bigger than most people's annual income in any year would be deadly.
My theory is that Mitt paid a butt load of $$$ to his church and used it as a write off to pay even less to the IRS. He has been pretty quiet about the Mormon faith. What other religion gets to send their young people off to cram their goofy dogma down peoples' throats instead of going to a war? Can't think of one can you!
That's a given. The question is whether the tax engineering meant that by the time all of the fancy bookkeeping was done there was nothing left over for supporting the country he wants to run.
In every speech, Obama needs to start asking, "How can we count on Mitt Romney to ask companies to bring their money and jobs home, if he won't even do it himself?"
I have a few questions for Romney. Romney you say you care about America and people. When you were pioneering outsourcing jobs over seas why didn’t you care about the wages, benefits, and safety of the people in these foreign countries? Why did you not set a good example of what it is to be American? If you cared so much about people why didn’t you care to what would happen to people as you were outsourcing these jobs? Why Romney didn’t you make it your priority that people were treated fairly and the right way? As the result of these jobs overseas, people have come to commit suicide as a result of very poor wages and severe and harsh work conditions. Plus all the other people who had to suffer from the things you did.
This action on the part of Romney just shows his attitude towards everyone who is not in his income range. He strongly believes in the Golden Rule, and since he has so much GOLD he believes he can make and only follow the rules he wants.
Anyone with 1/2 a brain running for President would instruct his Financial Adviser to purge every dollar in Off Shore Accounts and divest in Corporations in the Cayman Islands. This attitude that the Normal Rules do not apply to him just shows WHO Romney would really work for if he was President.
Isn't it funny that Romney has said he did not believe that he would have to release his Tax Forms.....yet HIS FATHER released some 12 years when HE ran for President and Romney did not seem to remember that....yeah sure.
I think, there is something really really big that is he is hiding. He is down in recent polls, but if he shows his tax return, he will go down 10points in polls http://www.pollheadlines.com/electoral-map.php