President Barack Obama’s campaign is offering Mitt Romney a deal: if he releases five years of tax returns, Obama’s team won’t criticize him for not releasing any more.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina made the offer to Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades in a letter Friday. Messina says he is taking the step because Romney “apparently fears the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand that he provide.”
This is really good strategy. It makes Romney’s “they’ll-never-be-satisfied” argument look hysterical, and it makes the Obama campaign look even more reasonable now. I do have to wonder where five years came from, though. Do they have inside information on Romney’s taxes? Was the number picked because it seemed the most reasonable? Or did they not care about the number because they know Romney will never release any of them?
On the issue of Romney’s taxes, while there’s a good chance that Romney didn’t file his taxes correctly (or otherwise hid money from the government), there is an equal or better chance that Romney did file his taxes just fine, and this is just a side-show distraction from real issues. Romney could just take the abuse from Obama, deny wrong doing up until late October while pressure builds, then release all 10 years of taxes to show nothing was wrong, thus alleviating the central criticism. I’m going to bet that someone at the IRS is already looking into his tax returns anyways, and since they’re under the Executive Branch (i.e. Obama’s direct authority), they could speak up if they had evidence or probable cause to believe there was wrong-doing.
The Oregonian reported in 2010 that there were 1,944,850 delinquent taxpayers in Oregon, a state with only 3.8 million people. Taking out non-taxpayers, clearly over half of this state’s population are not paying their taxes. So, no one should be pointing fingers.
I’m just glad that I’m a veteran and I don’t have to pay any taxes.
Vets don’t have to pay taxes?
I pay my taxes every year. Even when I file them correctly, I’m fearful that I’ve done something wrong and will get in trouble for it. Despite the fact that I really wish I could get out of supporting the defense budget with my taxes, I wouldn’t dare not pay them. I like my freedom (and current debt-freedom) too much.
Also, despite like half of all Oregonians being tax delinquents, the United States still has one of the highest rates of tax compliance in the first world. A lot of money is evaded (especially by the very rich)… but the compliance RATE is still good!
I think it was a bonehead move. Why take the pressure off now, even before the conventions, and invite Mitt to cherrypick five returns that are somewhat more defensible than the others? Dumb.
I’m guessing that Romney hasn’t done anything illegal. I’m betting the Romney campaign is concerned with how the taxes of an incredibly wealthy man with a team of tax lawyers looks to the average schmo… and it must look really, really, really bad for the campaign to take this much abuse willingly.
Is there any doubt that a Romney administration would favor the rich and increase the income gap in our country? Mitt is a pariah in Mormon Clothing and will stop at nothing to expand an empire of greed for the rich in this country by expanding tax cuts for the 1% of the wealthiest Americans. He’s out to gut the Middle Class for every red cent he can get. Will his sacred Mormon underwear grant him the protection and money to buy this election? See for yourself as Mitt dons his tighty-whities sent down from the Good Lord Himself at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2012/05…