Romneys Tax Returns

[yorick]

Romney is a Temple Mormon I bet his tax returns are clean as a whistle including giving tens of millions to charitable organizations. I think he's just letting the Obama team beat their chest over it and then he can release them, it will be like opening Capone's vault.

I haven't read far enough into this thread, but I'll edit this if somebody else already mentioned it. I'm wondering if the Mormon angle is a reason he hasn't released the returns. Maybe he's afraid of what might happen to his Temple Recommend because he secretly hasn't given enough money to the church.

ETA: It might seem stupid on the surface for a presidential candidate to worry about that, but every Mormon I have known is pretty damn serious about maintaining good standing in their religion.

[bowdirk]

"Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'"

LINK

This story just isn't going to go away, I thought he might release them during the Olympics. I don't understand why he doesn't unless his tax returns have so much shenanigans in them that he simply can't...

Of course, it could be a trap!

There is also the voter fraud angle. He voted as a Mass. resident lately, maybe his tax returns show him living in CA.?

simply weird...

[bowdirk]

So Romney now claims he has never paid less than 13% in taxes.

Does anyone believe him? I mean, he's a financier and politician. Neither of those roles are known for truthiness.

You know he is hiding something.

My bet is that he took the amnesty deal about secret, illegal, offshore bank accounts.

He obviously can't release them, because there is something there...

[matclone]

Ann says there's nothing to hide.

[ecj]

Unless there is something really terrible in there, I really can't understand why he doesn't release them. How is this helping him?

I guess it's possible he really did always pay 13%, and he's just waiting for Reid to make more of a fool of himself. But what's the point of damaging Harry Reid's already dismal approval ratings even further?

[mstrofbass]

So Romney now claims he has never paid less than 13% in taxes.

Does anyone believe him? I mean, he's a financier and politician. Neither of those roles are known for truthiness.

You know he is hiding something.

My bet is that he took the amnesty deal about secret, illegal, offshore bank accounts.

He obviously can't release them, because there is something there...

What do you think Obama is hiding?

[Mike C]

Obama didn't release his tax returns?

http://www.barackobama.com/tax-returns/

[mstrofbass]

Obama didn't release his tax returns?

http://www.barackobama.com/tax-returns/

Does it matter? He's a lawyer and a politician. Neither of those roles are known for truthiness.

You know he is hiding something.

[Mike C]

Well he is hiding a lot - sort of comes with the role of CiC...but i get your point

[synchronicity]

Unless there is something really terrible in there, I really can't understand why he doesn't release them. How is this helping him?

I guess it's possible he really did always pay 13%, and he's just waiting for Reid to make more of a fool of himself. But what's the point of damaging Harry Reid's already dismal approval ratings even further?

I have no idea why he won't release the damn things. I'm sure he paid a very low effective tax rate (13% is already pretty darn low given his apparent level of AGI) and from what has already come out we know he's engaged in aggressive tax planning (the zillion-dollar or whatever it is IRA), but so what? Release that stuff, have your well-funded campaign put a spin on it, and 99% of people either won't care or have their minds made up already (or both). Another 1% will care and change their minds, but they'll likely change again next week when some other item comes up. Besides, most candidates release multiple years of tax returns, so it's not like this is some bizarre unusual request. I'd be stunned if he hasn't planned for this.

By not releasing them, it keeps this in the news and in people's minds. Why do that?

Heck, most of the fun tax/financial planning doesn't show up on a 1040 anyway.