Tax return issue continues to dog Romney

Mitt Romney isn't bowing to pressure to release more than two years' worth of tax returns, but the debate over the matter isn't going away. If anything, the dialogue is heating up as Romney's defenders push back and his opponents find new ways to keep the issue alive.

On Wednesday, Democratic Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan announced that he is preparing legislation that would require presidential candidates to make public 10 years of tax returns and disclose overseas accounts. In a statement, Levin said he would introduce the bill in the coming weeks in response to Romney's refusal to release more than two years of returns.

"The stunning lack of transparency from someone in pursuit of the highest office in the country highlights the need to change the law to require fuller disclosure," Levin said.

To date, Romney has released his 2010 return and an estimate of his 2011 return, with a promise to release the 2011 return when it's complete. In an interview on WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh Tuesday night, Romney said releasing more returns would be like handing ammunition to the Democrats.

Canadians' favorite tax haven: USA

"Their opposition people look for anything they can find to distort, to twist and to try and make negative," he said. "And I want to make this campaign about the economy and creating jobs."

House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday also told reporters that the issue was a distraction, expressing his exasperation with the continued scrutiny Romney's facing.

"The American people are asking where are the jobs. They're not asking where the hell the tax returns are," Boehner said. "This is another sideshow intended to draw the American people's attention from the real issues, and the real issue is the president's economic policies have failed."

The speaker added, "And so whether it's the tax returns or whether it's Bain Capital, you'll see every distraction known to man because the president can't run on his record. It's not about the tax returns. The American people vote with their wallets."

On CBS This Morning Wednesday, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- one of Romney's potential running mates -- defended the GOP candidate. There is no claim or no credible indication that Mitt Romney has done anything wrong. He is in the range of past practice and custom," he said.

Not surprisingly, Romney has faced the most pressure from the Obama campaign and the president's allies, like the liberal group MoveOn -- both President Obama's re-election campaign and MoveOn are suggesting Romney could be hiding seriously damaging information in his returns. MoveOn on Wednesday is airing an ad in Ohio comparing Romney to Richard Nixon.

At the same time, some conservative politicians and organizations like Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the conservative magazine the National Review have also suggested Romney could be more transparent. "No matter who you are or what office you are running for, you should be as transparent as you can be with your tax returns and other aspects of your life so that people have the appropriate ability to judge your background," Perry said to Austin, Tex., CBS affiliate KEYE-TV on Tuesday.

[peteg2]

Since the Romneys paid no penalty despite their underpayment of estimated taxes for 2010, their 2009 income tax must have been under $1,245,000, less than half of what he paid for 2010. Assuming their investment return on their $200 million net-worth was only half that of the S&P500 for 2009, their federal tax rate was under 5% of their investment returns and income that year.

See alot more analysis of Romney's tax rate at http://fairsharetaxes.org. There's also a crackerjack proposal for fundamental reform of all our tax laws ... that would save middle-class and working-poor thousands every year, fix the distortions that are destroying our economy and the American Dream, increase spending to education, infrastructure, and the environment and and eliminate the federal deficit.

[peteg2]

I get a federal tax rate of 6% for Mr. Romney if you take his unrealized capital gains into account.

Here's the math. He is estimated to have a fortune of $190-250million, let's say $200M. In 2010 the S&P500 went up 15%. He's claims to be such a astute business man, I'm sure he equalled that in his capital gains, but lets be conservative and say his fortune grew 15%. That's $30 in capital gains. From reports, he had no significant capital gains (other than from partnerships) on his return, meaning they are not cashed in, not "realized", not taxable. It's easy for him to let these gains grow tax-free, since he had $21M in other income that year, plenty to live off of. Add the $30M to the $22M taxable income and you get him $52M ahead for 2010. He paid $3M in taxes. 3M/52M=6%. His social security tax from his "business" on his total income and investment gains was 0.05%, a rate 100-200 fold less than a minimum-wage worker pays. Add in all his other taxes ... state, local, sales taxes and I'm sure it would come to under 10%.

Little wonder the top 1% now how 40% of the nation's wealth, up from 22% 30 years ago, when Reagan started cutting taxes on the wealthy. The bottom 50% hold less than 1% of the nation's wealth. Here's why:

Consider typical 64 year-old widow living off a $15,000 pension or a minimum-wage full worker making $15,000. Once you add together all their taxes (Social Security, sales, gas, and property taxes), they pay over 30% of their income in taxes, leaving them about $830 a month to live on after-taxes. What a country.

To see much more on our corrupt tax system, the spreadsheets, the damaging effects on our economy, and the simple solution see Fair share taxes: http://fairsharetaxes.org

[conlibe]

And now we're learning that even those 2010 records are apparently NOT complete...

Seems:

• Mr. Romney's 2010 Tax Return is MISSING some documents including key documentation connected to his Swiss bank account.

• That people who own foreign bank accounts are required to file a separate document with the IRS that provides additional details on such overseas bank holdings, and Romney has not released that form to the public.

• That Romney's tax statement, as presented, is missing a crucial form: The Report on Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or "FBAR."

Apparently, if you want to BEAT the IRS, hey: get a Swiss account!

Now, there's concern that "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."

Maybe Romney just CANNOT afford to release his Taxes after all!!!

http://conlibe.wordpress.com/

[RNPRN]

Mittens has had months to lay out what he will do for the country, we the people are still waiting! This man is an embarassment to the United States.

[sam_osborne]

And they could not see the sucker punch coming---Republicans are shoving each other out of the way to get a poke in on Romney about his tax returns and everyone else just didn't see the sucker punch coming?

THE SETUP:

Expect that the 2011 tax return that Romney has accountants shaping around for release will show a man paying more than his share---you can't go to jail for paying too much, you know. It will be designed to buy him the presidency and make those calling him a tax dodger look like fools. Supposed critics in his own party will say Mitt is a giant of a man; even they did not know just how big.

A for seeing returns from back when he was pocketing money from melting down companies and leaving people without a means of making a living, he can expect everyone to now trust him.

Trusting Mitt Romney in the dark is a bit like a neighborhood association giving the job of night fire-watch to an arsonist---doing that would not be the kind of decision you would want to sleep on soundly.

[rightontarget]

I think that his refusing to release any more info just makes the honest American people ask the question "Why not?" Nobody is accusing Mittens of anything but his OWN actions certainally make things seem suspicious. Good grief, if you have nothing to hide you should not mind disclosure. I feel the same way about being asked to prove you are in our country legally. If you have nothing to hide why would you mind being asked to show your papers?? It reminds me of when my son was little. He got caught taking a cookie from the cookie jar. When I asked "What are you doing?" He answered "Nothing" and put both hands behind his back. I said "Show me your hands please". He held out the right one (keeping the left behind his back) to show it was empty. I said "Now the other one" and he put the right one behind his back and pulled out the left to show me. If he had been truly innocent he would have showed me both his hands at once. Of course he got caught (as will Romney) and told to put the cookie back. If I get pulled over by a cop and am asked to search my veichle, my answer is "No problem" because I know I have nothing to hide in my vehicle. The more somebody takes offense at being asked for disclosure, the more it makes you think that they really do have something to hide. Mr. Romney, "Me thinks thou doest protest a little too much"!

[RollotheNorman]

The National Review and Rick Perry agree with you.

[deerae3131]

People want to see his tax returns because the guy says he created jobs! Let's see how much he made from creating them and what he will do to create more...What he did with his earnings? What kind of mind set he has about money and what he would do with the tax payers money? I don't think this is asking to much...

Asking the American people to forget this point and move on, is asking too much! This man wants to POTUS and we want to see why he should be!
Anyone but Obama doesn't fly with Independents! The GOP want to play hard ball..ID cards removing (none of the above) from Nevada ballots...Desperate and embarrassing...I am pissed that that he is an option! How stupid do you think we are...
YOU ARE INSULTING THE MIDDLE CLASS!

[Ericwvb]

"The American people are asking where are the jobs. They're not asking where the hell the tax returns are," Boehner said.

That's very funny coming from a party which tries to pass only two kinds of bills: 1) Those rolling back "Obamacare" and 2) Those restricting abortion and access to contraception.

[Yeah_Its_Me]

inhalin - But they DO want to restrict access to it! Planned Parenthood deals a LOT with contraception. But the GOP keeps trying to defund them - and Romney supports their efforts! Take that away and a lot of low-income women suddenly have a problem getting it.

And of course, if you listen to a GOP stalwart they make PP out to be all about abortions.

[2happy2ride]

You just happen NOT to mention the 6 budgets & 28 job bills passed by the house only to sit in the senate never to have been brought up for a vote.
If transparency is your real concern, what about obama's curriculum & grades from the Madrassa through Harvard? How about his Executive Privilege in the Fast & Furious botched gun running scandal? Or the 62% of all the beneficiaries of the Stimulus I & II that were obama bundlers, a little cronyism at taxpayer expense?

[audemus]

While Senator Levin is at it, he should include in his proposed bill that ALL politicians, including Senators and Representatives release their tax and financial information if for no other reason than to see if any of them are profiting from legislation they are involved with.

Getting back to the subject at hand....Romney himself said if he releases any more tax information, it would be like, "... handing ammunition to the Democrats." This must be pretty damaging stuff if Romney himself categorizes it as "ammunition."

If he ( Romney ), really wants to make this campaign about the economy and creating jobs, he stands a greater chance of getting back to that agenda if he releases this information. A good question for all to ask is why isn't he willing to do that so he CAN return to the message he wants to get out there ? So far, his reluctance is not telling the American people that he won't be pressured into doing this by the Democrats, but that he does indeed have something to hide....and that can be disastrous for a politician seeking elective office....especially the office of President.

[Yeah_Its_Me]

Exactly! He wouldn't call it ammunition if he didn't think there was damning stuff in there. And when even GOP'rs are calling for him to come clean, it's clear that he's backing himself into a corner.

[thefatcat2]

after 4 years, OBAMA POLICES GIVES US 25 MILLION UNEMPLOYED Americans.
The obama Job Council has not met in 6 months now,
and it looks like CBS just wants to Talk about old Tax returns
and NOT Jobless PEOPLE, or the reason why -- Interesting...!

[selketca]

Tax returns topic how pathetic, you are right on! Ready these comments really makes me believe that there are many morons...

[retmw2]

What's he afraid of, that Americans will find out he's investing offshore instead of here in the U.S., therefore creating jobs offshore and not here. If he is so much on jobs here in the U.S., then why is he investing offshore? That's where your 25 million jobs went, guys like romney that don't invest in the U.S.