During Monday night’s debate in Myrtle Beach, Mitt Romney was compellingly and cogently pushed — by Rick Perry, no less — on the issue of releasing his tax returns. The former Massachusetts governor sputtered. “I have nothing in them that suggests there’s any problem and I’m happy to do so,” he replied. “What’s happened in history is people have released them in about April of the coming year, and that’s probably what I would do.”
But even the transcript, with its awkward constructions and noncommittal “probably,” doesn’t quite capture the unfortunateness of the response. It was quite simply Romney’s weakest moment in his weakest debate, combining all of the silly tropes alleged by his opponents into a single caricature of a slippery, well-heeled frontrunner trying to coast through the primaries.
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Responding to a reporter the next day, Romney allowed — again with modification — that his effective tax rate is “probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything,” since most of his income comes from interest and investment. But if Romney hopes to defuse the issue, he’ll have to do better than a ballpark guess. He should release his current tax return, or, if it is not yet available, his 2010 returns, and he should do so now.
While we won’t know until we see the records, we can adduce little that could be contained therein that would cast doubt on Romney’s ability to execute the office of the presidency, or his ability to execute it better than Barack Obama. Romney took no salary as Massachusetts’s governor and none as head of the Olympic Games, and signed on to turn around Bain & Company for a dollar. He reportedly tithes, and, through a fund administered with his wife, has given millions to charity, including the proceeds from his book. If his effective income-tax rate is in fact 15 percent, it would exceed the effective rate paid by the average American. That most of his income is taxed at lower, capital-gains rates is not the result of some arcane loophole, but a core feature of the United States tax code. Not even President Obama is calling for capital gains taxed at regular income rates.
But if there is something troubling — or at least politically exploitable — in Romney’s returns, ’twere best it be known quickly. As Perry put it when he confronted Romney on the issue, since Republicans “cannot fire our nominee in September,” it is critical that Romney release his tax records now, that voters might “take a look and decide if we’ve got a flawed candidate.” We know that should Romney become the nominee, he will be criticized over the sources of his wealth and will have to effectively respond. Republican primary voters deserve to see whether he can do so before they vote.
If he is to be the nominee, a speedy release benefits Romney, as well. If he discloses tomorrow, he will have secured the time and space necessary to exhaust the present attacks on his wealth and craft a counter-narrative. If he waits until April, or beyond, he will have ensured that the attacks reach a fever pitch just in time for the Obama campaign to make them a centerpiece of its reelection class war.
Romney seems to be the poster boy for the income redistribution in this country - via government-imposed taxes - from the middle and upper middle class (who pay 25-35% in federal income taxes + payroll tax) to the super rich (who pay only 15% taxes and only on income that they are unable to hide in one of the numerous loopholes and tax shelters available to them).
The only way to fix this income redistribution and bring tax fairness is:
1. Tax all income at exactly the same rates. The income of the super rich (capital gains and dividents) should be taxed at the same marginal rates as regular income - just as when federal taxes were originally introduced in the USA.
2. Close ALL tax shelters and loopholes that the super rich use to hide a large part of their income.
3. Reform (or, better, eliminate) the AMT to only target the super rich - as originally intended! Now the AMT mostly targets the middle class!
4. Introduce new tax brackets for incomes over $1M and $10M. When federal taxes were originally introduced in the USA only incomes of over $1.2M (in 2011 adjusted $) were taxed, at progressive rates, but now there is not even a separate tax bracket for incomes larger that $1M.
Obviously Romney should release his past tax returns - not the current ones that will clearly be engineered to look good for his presidential run. Romney should release at least his previous 5 returns for the previous 5 years!
Yeah, like he's going to release the info before Saturday...
Is NR of a sudden swinging Gingrich?
Otherwise, the politics don't make any sense.
In any event, it doesn't matter since Paul supporters are not going to vote for either one of them, Newt's efforts to swipe the gold standard issue notwithstanding.
It took Newt all of one year to have the next thirty at West Georgia figured out. It's therefore reasonable to conclude that by now he's figured out the future of the very cosmos.
Memo to the "conservative futurist": conservatives don't *plan* the future, if they're in the private sector they create it, and if they're in government they get obstructions out of the way..
Why does Mitt Romney have to release his tax returns? Why doesn't Mr. Obama release his college transcripts? Why doesn't he release any of his written work from college or from when he was teaching at Columbia? Mitt Romney isn't my favorite candidate because I live in Massachusetts, so I've been made to experience his changeable attitude toward gay marriage and abortion, as well as the rigors of his miserable healthcare law. Nonetheless, I don't think that his tax returns are any of my business unless the tax returns of the Obama's become everybody's business as well as Obama's college transcripts and written work, maybe Mrs. Obama's thesis at Princeton wouldn't go amiss under the public eye.
Really the central issue in a campaign ought to be what the candidate's philosophy is in terms of the constitution as well as his ideas about public and foreign policy. I don't care if his wife grows a garden or if he's an arugula connoisseur. If he doesn't have the integrity to run this country well, if he lacks respect for the majority of it's citizens, if he doesn't see America as having a great future, he shouldn't be president.
Previous candidates have released their tax returns in April that should have been fine, but the other candidates have been successful at creating a controversy where one should not exist (and congratulations to them for their successful political maneuvering on that front) and now Romney needs to put out the fire that they started.
My advice for Romney would be to announce that you are going to release them within the next few weeks after you have had time to retrieve the documents (from your Scrooge McDuck vault where you enjoy swimming in piles of gold coins, no doubt, that your opponents probably think you have), and then release the document on the night of either the South Carolina, Florida, or Nevada primary to drown it out a little to avoid the gawkers from freaking out over how rich you are.
Romney's father when running for president released 12 years of tax returns. All of Obama's returns from 2002 till now are released. Lets see how many years of tax returns Romney will release - mind that the last 2-3 years of returns are engineered to look good for his presidential run. I personally think that if Romney is the nominee we can kiss goodbye to extending the Bush tax cuts and can kiss goodbye to a 15% capital gains rate after this year!
Romney is so wooden and fearful of offending the intelligentsia....Here's what he SHOULD have said (and WOULD have if he had ANY ability to think on his feet): "I'll be glad to do so and my campaign will handle this one day after President Obama releases his; one day AFTER President Obama releases his records of buying land from convicted felon Tony Rezko, one day AFTER President Obama releases records explaining how he went from a middle class Chicago state senator to a multi-multi millionaire supposedly on the sales of 2 weak books. I'll release ALL my tax returns ONE DAY AFTER President Obama releases the records of his personal checks to the Treasury to pay for the vacations taken by Mrs. Obama and her entourage which serve no national purpose whatsoever. Am I clear on this?" (don't hold your breath waiting for Mitt to grow a spine though)
"If his effective income-tax rate is in fact 15 percent, it would exceed the effective rate paid by the average American. That most of his income is taxed at lower, capital-gains rates is not the result of some arcane loophole, but a core feature of the United States tax code."
Isn't this the periodical that endlessly complains that 47% of American's don't pay any income tax?
Because if that's the case, then comparing his tax rate paid to the "average" taxpayer whilst knowing the distribution of payers would be a pretty misleading and/or hypocritical statement for NRO, wouldn't it?
After all, I could pay 1% tax and then I'd pay more than the median American earner (not taxpayer) in income taxes. Really NRO, I think if you're going to be cheeky and disingenous, you should go ALL THE WAY BABY.
Your statistic with Romney's taxes is cold comfort to all the small business owners or upper middle class that get shafted with 35% marginal income rates. They don't have the luxury of offshore tax havens in the Bahamas, or preferential "carried interest" tax status that applies only to those in the financial services sector, or the benefit of working for gigantic fortune 500 companies that pay nothing close to the 42% corporate income rate prior to the very low 15% rate on capital gains distributions.
If there is something 'explosive' yes best to get it out now. But this is highly unlikley. If his filings simply shows he is rich, which we already know, why release now?
Save the ammuniton for when Obama comes after him, then he can release what I expect is exemplary tax records with generous tithings to boot and make the Obama campaign stumble. He can further throw in for added effect not only does he pay all his taxes, he does so on time and he will appoint only those who do the same (unlike the current president).
I have been a Romeny fan for a long time. A think he would make a great President. However, with the Bain attacks and the tax "scandal" I have grown to accept over the last few weeks that he will not make it out the primary process. Romney is the Tebow of politics. People think he "looks too perfect". His family is "to good to be true". He is "too rich". He went to schools that are "for intellectuals and he is too smart". He was far "too successful" as a businessman. He has been running for President for "too long". All of the above complaints about Romney are expected from Democrats, but now they are the talking points that "conservatives" like Gingrich, Santorum and Perry use to attack Romney. Good looks, strong family background, wealth/success, ambition and intelligence used to be qualities that Americans desired. Now they are all negatives. This country looks down on successful people out of envy instead of looking up to successful people as role models of virtue. We are now longer an achievement society- where are a grievance society that looks to tear down the succesful to "even the playing field". What woud Calvin Coolidge think? What would the rich, handsome, non-evangelical, 3 time Presidential candidate who was at one time pro-choice Ronald Reagan think of the Republicans attacking Romney today about Bain and wealth? This country is doomed- not because Romney won't be President but because Romney's qualities are seen as negatives for a Presidential candidate. What a sad, sad commentary on this nation.
Mormonism [Church of Latter Day Saints] is not Christian is because it denies the doctrines
of Christianity. Mormonism denies that there is only one God, Jesus is God in flesh,
forgiveness of sins is by grace, Jesus rose from the dead physically.
God, One of Many Gods, is An Exalted Man, Who is Married with Many Wives
Mormonism teaches that God is a an exalted man, that he used to be a man on another
planet and he is only one of countless gods and that God is married and he brought one
of his wives to this world and produces spirit children who then inhabit human bodies at birth.
God Had Sex with Mary
Mormons say God had sex with Mary and produced Jesus! According to Mormonism there
was no virgin birth. "The Father came down from heaven...and begat the Savior of the World;
for He is the Only Begotten of the Father which could not have been if the Father did not
actually beget him in person...The birth of the Saviour was as natural as are the births of
our children; it was the result of natural action. He partook of flesh and blood." (Brigham
Young, Journal Of Discourses, Vol. 1 page 238 and8:115)
Man Can Become God
Mormons believe that man can become God! "The Lord created you and me for the purpose
of becoming Gods like Himself." Brigham Young (Journal Of Discourses 3:93).
Jesus Was A Polygamist
The reason people "persecuted Jesus Christ, was because he had so many wives; there were
Elizabeth and Mary, and a host of others." [Journal of Discourses, Vol 1. ppl 345-346] "The
Scripture says the Lord, came walking in the Temple, with HIS TRAIN; I do not know who they
were, unless his wives and children." Brigham Young [Journal of Discourses,Vol.13.pg309]
Jesus and Satan Are Spirit Brothers
Mormons believe that Jesus and Satan are spirit brothers. [Journal of Discourses, 93:21]
Salvation through Joseph Smith
"No man or woman in this dispensation will ever enter into the celestial kingdom of God
without the consent of Joseph Smith...every man and woman must have the
certificate of Joseph Smith." [Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 7, p.289-91]
The Bible Is Not Infallible and Is Not Reliable
Mormons teach that the Bible has many errors and is unreliable and was corrupted in
translation and it is not infallible.They believe their Book of Mormon is God's Word. It is
“the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of our religion." Joseph Smith
Polygamy Marriages in Heaven
Mormon’s believe that you can be married to many wives in Heaven.
Baptism for the Dead
Mormon's baptize people in water on behalf of dead people for the forgiveness of their sins.
Mormon's Holy Underwear
Mormons have a Temple Ceremony where the person is given "Mormon
Underwear" that is to protect them against the Evil One.
Joseph Smith, Mormon Founder, Met Jesus
In 1820 Mormon founder Joseph Smith was 14 years old and he said God the Father and
Jesus met him outside of New York. Three years later he said an Angel named Moroni
inspired him to write the Book of Mormon, which is "another Bible" and "new revelation" of
Jesus Christ and it is about an ancient people who came from the middle east to the
Americas. The Mormons follow 2 other books, Doctrine & Covenants & Pearl of Great Price.
Joseph Smith Met John the Baptist
In 1829 Joseph Smith said John the Baptist appeared to him and ordained him.
Christians Are All Wrong...Their Creeds Are An Abomination
Joseph Smith said, Christians were "all wrong... all their creeds were an admonition."
Joseph Smith Greater Than Jesus
Smith said, "I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has
ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam...Neither Paul,
John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I"
Joseph Smith:"I Am Impregnable...God is My Right Hand Man"
Smith said, "The whole Earth shall bear me witness that I, like the towering rock in the
midst of the ocean, am impregnable...I combat the errors of ages... I solve mathematical
problems of universities, with truth, diamond truth; and God is my right hand man...
you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves,"
Brigham Young, Mormon's 2nd Prophet, Creates New Scriptures
Young said, "I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out that they may not call
Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good a scripture"
Mormon Polygamy
After 1852, when the Mormon Church was openly practicing polygamy, the leaders of the
church were declaring that it was absolutely essential for exaltation. A revelation given by
Joseph Smith, "Ten virgins given unto him [Solomon] by this law, he cannot commit
adultery...therefore is he justified."
Joseph Smith A Polygamist...An Adulterer...and A Pedophile
Joseph Smith had 33 wives! He married several who were married to other men." Nancy
Marinda Johnson married Joseph Smith while her husband, Orson Hyde, was on a
mission to Jerusalem." Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, the wife of Adam Lightner,
said that Joseph claimed an "angel" came with a "drawn sword" and told him that if
he did not enter into polygamy "he would slay him."
Joseph Smith's youngest wife, Helen Mar Kimball, was 14 years old!!!!
Joseph Smith Wife Damned If She Doesn't Accept Polygamy
Joseph Smith prophesied his first and only legal wife Emma would be damned
or destroyed if she did not accept polygamy (Doctrine & Covenants 132).
Brigham Young 55 Wives and 57 Children
Brigham Young, the 2nd Prophet of Mormonism had 55 wives and 57 children!!
Must Commit Polygamy to Become Gods
Brigham Young said, "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are
those who enter into polygamy." (Journal of Discourses, vol. 11,269) "If you want to
become a god one day you must violate the already given law of God now.
"[Doctrine and Covenants132 Verses 62-63]
Must Commit Polygamy or You Will Be Damned and Not Enter God's Glory
"He that abideth not this law (polygamy) can in no wise enter into my glory, but
shall be damned, saith the Lord." (D&C,132:27). "Now if any of you deny the
plurality of wives, I promise that you will be damned." Brigham Young
Mormonism is Not Christian
"Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people."[Jesus Christ,Mt.24:11]
It's a tragedy that The National Review only got its website up and running during the past week. Otherwise, this venerable organ of conservative thought could have more thoroughly vetted the presumptive nominee in time.
Even National Review is pressuring Romney to release his tax returns.
I hope he refuses.
Is what he did legal? If so, it’s not their dang business WHAT he paid in taxes. They should butt out. The lamestream media hope that there will be some item of minutia they can make hay over. There simply is no advantage at all to releasing it to gawkers. Sorry, go back to talking about the sexual and drug indiscretions of the starlet du jour.
Now Romney already said he would, probably in April. NR says that we need to know now that there is nothing wrong because you can’t “fire” your candidate in September. I think they should go soak their heads. If you have evidence of wrongdoing, produce it. If not, shut the freak up.
NR should have just shut up–they missed a great chance to at least shut their mouths and they should have objected to such a silly thing. I’m ashamed of them. Heck, Obama won’t even release his grades, and they are far more salient in this context. But has the partisan media said a word? No, not a peep. I’m just sick of this rank hypocrisy. And this is hypocrisy and voyeurism in its most base form.
What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, as I see it. If I were Romney, I’d tell them to go take a flying leap.
I believe Romney's father set the precedent for releasing tax returns. I don't see how this can be construed as a partisan thing and it would be fairly awkward if Romney, especially because of his father's precedent, did not release them.
