Romney really Screwing Up not Immediately Releasing Past Returns

Written by "James' Editor of the Obama and the White House blog


People from both sides of the isle are openly admitting that Mitt Romney is really "Screwing Up" by not releasing his tax returns. Why not release them? His father did it. President Obama did it. Other presidential hopefuls did it. But Mitt Romney just won't, at least up until now. Yes, he did finally release his 2010 returns in January, but his delayed reaction led him to loose a Republican primary race in South Carolina to Newt Gingrich. Has he learned a lesson? I guess not because he repeatedly states that it is unnecessary to release more tax returns.
But "Even the Republicans are starting to ask: What could possibly be in his old tax returns that is worse than creating the impression he has something to hide?". He really did suffer allot of political damage in January, but he finally came clean, only now to delay the release of his 2011 returns until later this year by filing an extension. The Obama reelection campaign and Democratic interest groups are pressing Mitt Romney to release up to as much as two decades worth. Why not? Mitt's own father did.
Everyone knows that Mitt Romney is one of the wealthiest people to ever run for president. His net worth is said to be nearly 190 million dollars. It's hard to find a past candidate that was richer. Everyone knows that he makes money on his past business interests and pays minimal taxes on them. He makes more money doing nothing than President Obama does working in office as President of the United States.
It must not be too important for Mitt Romney to become President of the United States, because when the last Republican ran for office, the candidate of that time received 23 years of returns from Romney, as Romney attempted to become McCains choice for vice-president?!!! Still, McCain did not choose him. Why? Maybe there is just too much black grease in the returns that would automatically disqualify him to run for Vice-President. Doesn't he think it's going to come out in the wash now? More so now because he is not running for VP this time, he is about to become the Republican nominee for President of the United States, to run against an incumbent President who already has released his previous tax returns.
If he wants to run toe to toe against Obama and wants people to believe in him and trust him, then he needs to provide the tax returns. Every day that he refuses to do so will bring up more and more suspicion of him. Maybe he thinks that he can get away with it, or at least not present the returns before the election. But maybe what is known by a few people who have seen them may automatically eliminate him as the nominee, thus he most likely has something to hide. If it's that bad, why would he chance loosing the election for his party, and allow President Obama to gain his second term in office?  It must be a disease call idiocy, or maybe there is part of his brain that must be brain dead, the common sense part of the brain.

Read more...

President Obama releases tax returns. Does he have to make them public?

The Obamas paid more than $162,000 in federal taxes on income of $789,674. The custom that presidents release their tax returns dates to the Nixon administration.

President Obama speaks about tax fairness and the economy at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, Tuesday. Obama released his 2011 tax return on Friday.

Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Obama released his 2011 Form 1040 on Friday, revealing that he and his wife, Michelle, paid more than $162,000 in federal taxes on income of $789,674.

The Obamas’ effective tax rate was 20.5 percent,according to the White House. That’s lower than the rate that hits many taxpayers who make less than the first couple, but it’s higher than presumptive GOPnominee Mitt Romney pays. Earlier this year, the Romney campaign released tax documents indicating that the former Massachusetts governor was planning to pay about 15.4 percent of his (substantially higher) income to Uncle Sam.

The disparity here is due to the fact that most of Mr. Romney’s cash inflow comes from investment income, which is taxed at a much lower rate than is earned income. Mr. Obama’s proposed “Buffett rule,” named after billionaire Warren Buffett, would force those who earn $1 million a year to pay at least 30 percent in taxes, whatever the source of their income – a point the administration was eager to highlight with the release of the Obama family return.

QUIZ: How much do you know about taxes?

The Buffett rule would not have hit the Obamas this year, since their income was below the $1 million mark. 

In previous years, however, royalties from his books have pushed Obama’s earnings well into the seven figures.

Obama “believes that people like him should be paying an effective tax rate that is no lower than the rate paid by hard-working middle-class Americans,” said White House press secretary Jay Carney on Friday.

There is no law requiring US presidents, or US presidential aspirants, to release their tax returns to the public. If they choose, White House occupants are entitled to all the privacy in regard to their income that ordinary citizens enjoy.

The custom that presidents do release this information dates to the early 1970s, and the administration of that most maddening of modern-day chief executives, Richard Nixon.

Mr. Nixon’s 1974 resignation over Watergate today obscures the fact that he was also in trouble over how little he had paid in federal taxes.

In an effort to bolster his image, Nixon had boasted at a press conference that he’d been audited by the Internal Revenue Service and found clean. Long story short, this led to pressure to release his returns, Nixon’s developing political weakness led him to comply, and reporters discovered that he’d paid only $6,000 in taxes on cumulative income of $790,000 from 1970 to 1972, due to big deductions he’d taken on donating his vice-presidential papers to charity (among other things).

Upon further review, the IRS decided that Nixon owed $465,000 in back taxes.

Following Nixon’s resignation, new President Ford had to restore faith in the US system of government. In 1976, during the presidential campaign, he released his tax returns.

Jimmy Carter, after he was elected, followed suit, as has every president since.

QUIZ: How much do you know about taxes?

Get daily or weekly updates from CSMonitor.com delivered to your inbox. Sign up today.

Related stories

• How much do you know about taxes? Take the quiz.
• Tax Day 2011: Why do presidents release tax returns? Hint: 'I am not a ...'
• Tax day horror story: taking your money ... and your identity

Read more...

Obama submits his tax returns, Romney has not!

Isn't it fair that if President Obama released his personal tax returns, that the Republican soon to be nominee for President Mitt Romney also release his tax returns? If you are a Democrat, you would say "Of Course". But if you are a Republican, you would call the issue of Romney to release 10 years of his personal tax returns "a distraction to the real issues at hand".
Maybe it is or maybe it isn't. The fact is that it's time for fair play. Remember not so long ago that President Obama was pounded and pounded again about his birth certificate. Eventually President Obama presented undisputable proof that he was born in the United States. Now, the Democrats and President Obama are asking Mr. Mitt Romney to disclose his tax returns.
What would be the reason why the former Massachusetts governor had filed for a tax extension from the Internal Revenue Service and why is he hesitating in providing tax returns like President Obama has or even as his own father has in the past when he ran for public office?
Most likely it will be because that Romney has something to hide. But the fact of the matter is that it will eventually come out in the wash and hopefully soon, or the answer is 'yes', the Romney tax return squabble will continue to be a distraction to the Presidential race. But if he continues to try and hide his returns, what else must he be hiding and this goes to prove to ask the question of how much he could be trusted as President in the White House, if he cannot even disclose something as basic as a tax return.... No wonder why he supports getting rid of the IRS.!!

Yes, it is only fair that the Republican contender for the White House also release his tax returns as President Obama has. Obama has done nothing in office to give the voters of this country any doubts that he is honest, sincere and has nothing to hide. On the other hand, Mitt Romney is becoming more and more suspecious every day. Yes, it is true that Mitt Romney did release his 2010 tax returns, but what about 2011 and why is he filing for a tax extension. More than likely, Romney will eventually submit his 2011 tax returns for everyone to see. just the fact that he refuses to do what President Obama is willing to do and has done, along with a simple request from the President of the United States for Romney to provide his tax returns is very suspecious.

Hopefully in a few days, Mitt Romney will provide what the President requests from him. But I'm almost willing to bet that he doesn't.. Why, because he has something to hide.

Read more...