“He has only released one year, to the McCain campaign he released 23 years. And he’s telling the people, ‘I’m not going to give you what I gave John McCain’s people in 2008.’ And when he gave them 23 years, John McCain’s campaign looked at it and went, ‘Let’s go with Sarah Palin.’ So whatever’s in there is far worse than just the first year.”
~Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel

Just so we’re clear … Mitt Romney has been running for President since 2007 – that’s 5 years.  He gave John McCain TWENTY THREE years worth of tax returns when he was being considered for vice-president in 2008 after McCain won the nomination but McCain and his team picked Sarah Palin over Romney after they saw those tax returns.  That was in 2008 … 4 years later – he has produced ONE tax return for 2010 and an estimate on his 2011 taxes.  That’s it.

This is integral because Mitt Romney claims that America should choose him as President because of his experience in the private sector.  We know that he CURRENTLY has accounts in offshore tax havens in the Cayman Island, Switzerland, Bermuda, Luxembourg and Ireland (source)… all known for charging little to nothing in interest for capital gains stashed there and all of them are used by various criminal organizations as well as high net worth individuals looking to escape paying taxes in the U.S. or Europe.  Mother Jones uncovered information on Bain Capital showing that Romney used a Bermuda based corporation in his name as part of some of his deals with Bain (source) among other revelations.

The bottom line is Mitt Romney has chosen to be the least transparent Presidential candidate in history.  He won’t disclose his tax records and he has already proven to provide false information either to the SEC (with possibility of a felony charge) or he lied to voters in terms of when he left Bain Capital as CEO, Chairman of the Board and LONE shareholder.  We do know that in 2010 and 2011 – Romney’s total federal tax burden was 13.7% with $62 million in earnings while he was “unemployed” as he put it.  He paid a far lower tax rate than the average person once you factor in payroll taxes, real estate taxes etc.  His tax burden is WAY lower than your tax burden and he wants to cut taxes for people like himself even more.

“I pay all the taxes I’m required to pay by law…and by the way – not a $ more”. 
~Mitt Romney 

So for the average voter – I think it’s reasonable to conclude that Romney is more concerned about what is in his tax filings than the flack he’s going to get for failing to show them.  In other words – these tax returns are probably very damning …

Reminder – Romney declined to disclose his Bain Holdings in regulatory filings 48 separate times (source).  On to the conservative calls for disclosure:

Conservative columnist Bill Kristol said this to Fox News Sunday today:

“He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy.  You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.” 

Conservative columnist George Will said this today on ABC News:

“Mitt Romney has said he has released all that’s necessary for people to understand “something” about my finances. Now “something” is a pregnant word… The costs of not releasing the returns are clear, therefore he must have calculated there are higher costs to releasing them.”

Governor Robert Bentley (R-AL) said this to the Huffington Post:

“If you have things to hide, then maybe you’re doing things wrong.  I think you ought to be willing to release everything to the American people.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said this during the primary:

“If you’re a South Carolinian, you say, ‘Wait a second, why don’t you want me to know about it? Why are you going to wait until after I’ve voted?’ Last night he conceded in principle that he owes it to the public to share it — strikes me he ought to do it before South Carolina votes.”

Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) said this in January:

“I don’t know why he hasn’t released his tax returns. I think he should.”

Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) said this during the primary:

”We need for you to release your income tax.  We cannot fire our nominee in September. We need to know now.”

Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) said this in January:

“I would say to Governor Romney is that if you have tax returns to put out, you know, you should put them out sooner rather than later because it’s always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you’re the front-runner.” 

Former Governor Haley Barbour (R-MI) and the Republican National Committee Chair said this last Monday:

“I would [release my tax returns] but should it be an issue in a campaign? I don’t think it matters diddly.”

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said this on July 12th:

“His personal finances, the way he does things, his record, are fair game.”

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steel said this – this week:

“If there’s nothing there, there’s no ‘there’ there, don’t create a there.”

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