Why won't Romney release his tax returns?

Politics & Elections
141

But the only way to do that is to produce Romney’s tax returns, and legally, only Romney can do that.

This is not like Reid claiming Romney is an alien from another galaxy who is able to mimic humans perfectly (well, except when talking about “the aircraft”). This is like Reid claiming that Romney has seven toes on his left foot. If it’s true, Reid probably can’t prove it without violating privacy laws. But if it’s false, Romney can destroy Reid’s credibility with very little effort.

And the question is, why wouldn’t he do that?

The claim that Obama wasn’t born in the US was patently ridiculous, given the fact that the Bush Administration assigned him millions of dollars worth of Secret Service protection, and obviously would not have done that for an ineligible candidate. And yet, Obama went ahead and released his birth certificate in June of 2008 when the clamoring of the idiots became a distraction.

The claim that Romney has used accounting tricks and arcane loopholes to legally avoid paying taxes is not in the least ridiculous. Indeed, it accords with everything we know about him. The longer he refuses to release his returns, the more his credibility suffers, and the less people think about the economy.

142

Because it wouldn’t hurt Reid. Romney shows taxes that shows he paid every penny and Reid says, “I was misinformed. Not my fault.”

143

It’s Hitchcockian. The longer he waits to release them, the juicier the suspense. Just what is ol’ Mitt hiding, hmmm?

And then when the media finally does get a hold of them, there’s going to be a race to who can splash the first Tax Trouble banner and find … something. And they will. Oh look, three years ago he wrote off his cable bill as a business expense. Aha! Can you trust this man to be president?

144

Oh, you mean just like Dan Rather? Who went from being the number one news anchor, to covering Walmart openings?

BTW, I have no doubt that Romney “paid every penny” he legally owed. But I haven’t heard him deny that he managed to pay far less than even the 13% rate we know about for the only year he’s released so far, and he has apparently reneged on his promise to even say whether or not he ever paid anything below that.

145

taxes??!! taxes??!! you pay taxes??!! really, as a dear friend once said, “only the little people pay taxes”!

here take my accountant’s card. knows all the tax code and loophole, i haven’t paid taxes in 10 years or so.

paying taxes, (chuckle, chuckle), ah, your a funny one billy boy!

146

If this election is about Obama’s record as president, he loses. So instead, the Obama campaign has to make this election about the security of voting for an incumbent vs taking a flier on a new guy. To make that stick, they have to paint the new guy as incompetent, or dishonest, or mean, or medically unfit, or whatever. They have to make it personal.

If Romney releases his taxes, there will be thousands of deductions, income declarations, and other bits of informaiton that the Obama campaign can dribble out to the media, endlessly distracting everyone from Obama’s record. Every one of those will be spun to make Romney look like a nefarious, cheating, rich outsider. And even if they are all disproven, the campaign will then switch to the meta-story - the ‘history of questionable activities’, or the ‘troubling issues that keep cropping up’.

It’s an attempt to run out the clock, and deflect the debate away from Obama’s record. It’s a smart tactic, because it puts Romney in a no-win situation: release the returns and open himself up to a million ankle biters and breathless reports of ‘scandal’, or refuse and make everyone wonder why.

In this context, Reid’s remarks are brilliant. If Romney won’t release his returns, it allows people like Reid to make up any crap they want and smear him. That will put pressure on him to release the returns, and if it doesn’t will amplify the ‘why not’ questions. I’ll bet you’ll see more of this from other Democrats if Romney continues to refuse release.

Another reason Romney may not want to release his returns is that there could be legal-but-embarrassing things in there about his family. Medical deductions would be a prime suspect. If he claimed medical deductions for psychiatric treatment for a kid or his wife, or there are deductions for a child’s STD or an embarrassing condition like erectile dysfunction or hemorrhoids, his family could be demanding that they be kept private.

The taxes would also disclose his charitable contributions, and maybe all of it goes to the LDS church and not to other charities and they’re worried that it would be a problem.

There could be a thousand reasons why Romney won’t release the rest of his returns, but I think the most likely one is that he’d be giving too much fodder to the Obama Campaign’s scandal mongers, and he needs to keep the focus on Obama and his record as president.

147

Opinion, and not well-supported either. Polls consistently show a plurality put more blame for the economy on Bush. Romney at some point has to present a positive alternative, not just simple Obama-bashing, and all he has is to return to the policies that got us into this mess. But that’s all he’s got and all he can do; fortunately there are still quite a few supply-side true believers out there.

If you’re referring to health care, Romney has no basis to present himself as preferable on that count, either. Even if the election were solely a referendum on that, again, a majority either like ACA or wish it went even farther.

If the topic is what’s in the candidates’ finances, Obama’s tax returns are as public as his birth certificate. Go ahead and look for something; if it were there your guys would have found it.

So, one has to wonder where such confident statements as yours come from.

148

I think you’re doing your taxes wrong.

149

Maybe the regs are different in Canada. Those details don’t need to be included on a US return, only a single line for the total medical deductions. The bills do have to be made available to the IRS if they audit the return, but privacy rights apply.

150

This is the funniest thing I’ve ever read on the dope. Good job Stoney.

151

Remember back in the early 2000’s when we almost elected Mitt Romney? That is, until we found out he had a child with erectile dysfunction?

Dodged a bullet there.

152

Of course there’s an STD deduction. I got syphilis on purpose just so I could claim it.

153

Same reason that Donald Trump would allow himself to be a nominee - they’re both bandits who refuse to let anyone see their books.
**

154

And in any case, medical deductions only kick in at something like 10% of income, which for Romney would be something like 2 million dollars. Unless he’s got some incredibly expensive super-syphilis, I think Sam’s reaching much further then Reid for an explanation.

(also his kids are in their thirties and forties, I imagine they can pay for their own embarrassing medical problems without dads help).

155

I’m liking that “stiffing the church” angle, since Reid is also a Mormon.

ETA: It would make Reid’s accusations extra-special personal. Biden couldn’t pull off an accusation as lowdown and despicable as Reid’s suggestion that Romney paid no taxes because even he has to retain some dignity. Reid is FINALLY showing some of that cutthroat attitude of LBJ as Majority Leader.

156

Chalk the medical thing up to my unfamiliarity with U.S. taxes. However, the main point remains - if Romney releases his tax returns he’s going to give the Obama campaign fodder to dribble out accusations all the way to the election.

For example, let’s say he doesn’t have to itemize his medical deductions, and it’s just a single line item. And it turns out there’s a $200,000 medical cost in there. The next story you’ll read is, “What’s wrong with Romney???” There will be demands for him to disclose all his medical records. And if there’s nothing wrong, that deduction would be spun as evidence for how rich people can afford medical care that poor people can’t get and used in the class warfare attacks.

Every deduction would be scrutinized. God forbid there should be a charitable donation to a charity that has some guy leading it who made a politically incorrect statement somewhere - Romney will be attacked for being associated. And so it goes. There doesn’t have to be any real red meat in there - just enough uncertainty that ‘questions’ can be raised and clowns like Harry Reid can jump out with specious accusations, which will lead to demands for more disclosure, which in turn will open up new ‘questions’, etc.

Romney’s better off to just say no. That turns potentially many issues into one issue - his refusal to release his returns. It’s early enough in the campaign that he’s probably hoping the tax issue can be put behind him by the time average people start paying attention.

157

So you are essentially saying that NO presidential candidate should ever release his tax returns? Good luck with that.

158

No, no! Only REPUBLICAN presidential candidates! Silly sinjin!

159

So you’re acknowledging he made an accusation he can’t back up, right? Putting that aside, substantiate does not mean the same thing as prove. To substantiate is to provide evidence. I agree Reid can’t prove Romney paid no taxes, but he can substantiate his accusation by explaining where it comes from and why the source of his information is reliable. Saying “I don’t know if this is true, but I heard it!” is just a way of introducing a rumor. “Hey, did Mitt Romney pay taxes at all?” is the same kind of thing that is derided as JAQing off in debates.

Do you feel it’s legitimate and ethical to make unfounded accusations just to force the target of your allegations to prove you wrong? It seems to me that you shouldn’t say this kind of thing unless you can really prove it or provide strong evidence for it. Reid can’t. He says someone told him about it; we don’t know who. He says they are credible; we can’t know if he’s right. And it also seems to me that we should be able to acknowledge that Romney finds his tax returns politically embarrassing and that he himself is a dick while also agreeing that this is a bullshit tactic. Yes, the odds of Obama being born anywhere other than Hawaii to anyone other than Ann Dunham and Barack Obama were zero, and the odds Mitt Romney not paying taxes have to be higher than that because the accusation it not totally absurd on its face. But plausibility is not the issue here, and “hey, it’s plausible!” is not an excuse for accusing people of things you don’t know they did. The issue here is that Reid’s claims are unsupported. That’s an argument against him and against his claims, not an argument about how the burden is on Romney.

160

ANd I’d like to see Romney make that point, citing the unfairness of birthers demanding proof of Obama’s birth certificate. Until that day, I’m gonna enjoy this.