Dante Carpenter: Questions Still Left Unanswered on Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns PDF Print E-mail

Mitt Romney has spent years refusing to release his tax returns – and though he finally agreed to do so today, he offered just one full year of returns.   After deciding that John McCain’s campaign was entitled to 23 years of tax returns as part of a vice presidential vetting process, Mitt Romney believes the American people are only entitled to one year’s worth.  This decision flies in the face of precedent set by previous presidential candidates – Romney’s father released 12 years of returns, President Bush released returns back to 1991, and President Obama released eight years of tax returns during the 2008 campaign.  Why doesn’t Mitt Romney believe voters deserve to see the full picture?

There is no question that Romney failed today to release sufficient information for the American people to be able to evaluate his investments, see exactly how he acquired his mass fortune during his time as a corporate raider for Bain Capital, and determine whether he has any financial conflicts that could cloud his judgment.  For instance, he closed a Swiss investment account only because an advisor was worried it might cause political problems should it stay open.  And Romney has made a fortune using offshore investments, from Swiss bank accounts to investments in the Caymans to Bermuda to Luxembourg to Ireland – all famous tax havens that cost American taxpayers about $100 billion a year in lost revenue.  But today’s returns don't show how much in U.S. taxes Romney is avoiding by keeping his money in these foreign accounts – what else is he hiding from voters?

Clearly, Romney doesn’t want us to know what releasing multiple full years of tax returns would reveal: he doesn’t believe we all have a responsibility to do our fair share, and he wants to continue to exploit the loopholes, special deductions and other gimmicks that he and other extraordinarily wealthy Americans use to pay a lower tax rate than working and middle-class families.  With these priorities, it’s no surprise that Romney’s tax plan would cut his own 2013 taxes by nearly half.  That’s where Romney stands – and that’s exactly why he still refused to fully come clean with the American people today.
 

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