Why is Mitt Romney hiding his tax returns?
Posted on Friday, July 06, 2012 at 01:34 PM
Larger Text
Print
E-mail
59 Comments
RSS 
Recent Posts
- Violent attacks on gays in New York up 70 percent in 2013
- Will New York Senator Chuck Schumer ditch gay couples for an immigration deal?
- If nobody's happy, it's working – the abortion debate and Irish politics of stalemate
- Conservative news entertainment complex claim Barack Obama leader of Al Qaeda
- Why Irish grudges are passed on - a long tradition of never forgetting
Archives
In particular, I think it's time we learned what's in his tax returns. To date he has released only one year of returns for 2010. What on earth is he trying to hide?
We already know Romney has invested untold millions in multiple tax heavens around the world, a ploy that allows the super-rich to evade US tax laws, but the staggering sums that are piling up - he has $30 million dollars in the Caymen Islands alone - are a bizarre and insulting precedent for a United States presidential candidate.
We also know that Romney appears to believe that taxes are for the little people. We know this because in 2010 and 2011 he paid $6.2 million in federal tax on $42.5 million in income. That means he paid a tax rate of about $15 percent, which is a rate that most middle class tax payers can only dream of.
So if there's nothing to hide, and we assume there isn't, why is he hiding it? Has he made use of off shore havens to defer or avoid paying his federal income taxes? Did he buy any illegal or gray area tax shelters? Has an IRS audit ever uncovered any serious problems with any of his tax returns? Has it all been on the up and up, has it all been legal?
These are pretty simple questions and they deserve an answer from anyone who puts themselves forward to be commander in chief.
We already know that at Bain Romney made use of the 'covered interest' tax loophole that allowed him to treat his fees there as if they were capital gains (15% tax) rather than wages (35% tax). That's perfectly legal, if not exactly perfectly patriotic. But how many people are evening reporting on that yet?
The silence from the Romney camp is unsettling.
59 comments
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 11:54 PM EDT
Ephraim, I'm sure your boss required it to be read, I don't care about personal shortcomings and heresay,I never did drugs though,and I doubt he did either , I'm sure Bill Ayers loved it
Report abuse
EphraimKibbey | Jul 08, 2012, 11:29 PM EDT
@BrianO - I just read it this winter. Its pretty good! It foreshadows many of his current positions. "Dreams FROM My Father" by the way, but what's one little pronoun. Someone on here challenged me to read it last year. They said it revealed Obama's hatred of America and the white race. They must not have actually read it themselves because it doesn't show anything of the kind. It is amazing to me how much stuff gets out there in cyberland that is so blatantly false and gets parroted by folks who never bother to check their facts. It just shows a young man struggling to find his own identity, just like most of us did at sometime in our lives.
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 09:41 PM EDT
Ephraim, thank you for getting me to look up obamas tax returns, yes they are available till 2006 maybe more, but 2005 is most comforting as an Individual author Mr. obama sold app. $1.5 million dollars net on his first book dreams of my father, quite a feat for a freshman senator from Illinois.
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 09:36 PM EDT
Seano if we both agree, then you must be of the same mind as me.
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 09:30 PM EDT
Ephraim, I believe obama was born in Hawaii, the copy was not released until after much insistence and not an original, but to the logic given by hoola if A isn't released then b must be true fits, as does his school records, If you are going to make logical assumptions they go both ways.
Report abuse
seanomelb | Jul 08, 2012, 07:20 PM EDT
Briano at least you didn't question the logic so you must agree with me.
Report abuse
EphraimKibbey | Jul 08, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT
@peterson - why do you say he has hidden his tax records when he released them before he ran in 2008 and has been releasing them ever since? @BrianO - Why do you say he has still not released his birth certificate? This birther stuff is really getting tired. Obama is President whether you like it or not because more people voted for him in 2008 than did not. This birther stuff is all sour grapes because McCain lost and some people just can't get over it.
Report abuse
peterson | Jul 08, 2012, 02:22 PM EDT
Get a life Cahir !!
Report abuse
peterson | Jul 08, 2012, 02:21 PM EDT
Why has Obama hidden most of his history AND tax records !!
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 12:29 PM EDT
Hola using your logic-- Obama doesn't realease- his birth certificate so that proves it's politically damaging- high School transcripts so proves its politicaly damaging-Occidental college grades so that proves its politically damaging- Columbia college grades, harvard thesis, harvard law review writings, ----- I say put everything on the table for both of them and lets see who the better man is.-----
Report abuse
hollabackgurl | Jul 08, 2012, 11:01 AM EDT
The fact that he won't release them proves they are politically damaging.
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 10:25 AM EDT
Hollaback I hope you enjoyed Independence day.
Report abuse
BrianO | Jul 08, 2012, 10:22 AM EDT
Seano, thank you for the insult, I'm sure my stupidity is why you cannot understand. Rules for radicals ala Sal Alinsky, ridicule your opponent, sample the leftist on this site and it is funny to read the insults. So bring on some more classic leftist insults, I like a good laugh.
Report abuse
lokionline | Jul 08, 2012, 12:22 AM EDT
Somebody blew a dog whistle in the conservosphere.
Report abuse
Report abuse