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Taking a step back for a moment... Romney's refusal to release additional tax returns has come at no small political cost. Even prominent members of his own party have been encouraging him to do so for weeks, and he has refused in the most unequivocal terms. He is not even pretending that it is part of some principled stand (whatever that might conceivably be), he is simply refusing period.
He has clearly made the political calculation that the cost and damage of speculation regarding what he might be hiding is less than the cost of actually releasing them. And we can see from the last several news cycles, weeks of them in fact, the cost of not releasing them is high indeed.
Now, certainly, the Reid accusation that he had years where he paid no taxes was hardly credible. But even were they true, that would not have been an indication of illegality. At worst it would be embarrassing, but that is a boil that could have been lanced early and end up long forgotten by election day.
The brouhaha over when he left Bain is a more significant problem, but that is hardly an issue that has ever depended on his tax returns to settle. We already have the actual SEC filings in the public records showing that for three years Bain Capital made official filings that directly contradict his personal claims of when he left. Tax returns would add nothing to that discussion regardless of what they reflected, other than briefly raise again an issue that by now has lost the interest of the electorate.
I note also that a release of only five years of returns would not cover the Bain transition anyway.
So... we are left with the reasonable deductions that 1) whatever he does not want to reveal is something that took place since the 2007 tax year, and 2) it is more than merely embarrassing. Politicians do not take such stands because it's merely something they don't want to do, it is because it is something they cannot do. Whatever Romney is holding back is a campaign ender. Paying no taxes in any number of years is not a campaign ender. Anything having to do with Bain is both outside of the time horizon and not a campaign ender. Any routine audits, even those including denial of weird deductions (like dancing horses) are not campaign enders. So what is it?
There appears to be only one possibility that fits all the particulars of timing and severity and that also conforms with a couple of other details we know regarding Romney's finances.
It is already well known that Romney aggressively pursues as low a tax burden as possible, agains something that is not on its face wrong. His lower-than-Ryan's tax bracket reflects his success at generating much if not most of his income via tax protected or tax favorable investments. And we all know that he has taken full advantage of off-shore banking opportunities to further reduce his tax burden... and here is where he possibly crossed the line.
In 2009, the legendary secrecy of the Swiss banking system was challenged by a series of court decisions that drove them to announce they would be releasing the names of account holders... exposing thousands of wealthy depositors to criminal charges of tax evasion in their home countries. In the US, the IRS decided that rather than waiting for the revelation and then engaging in costly and time consuming litigation to recover the illegally sheltered tax revenue, they would offer amnesty to those individuals who came forward of their own free will and paid the owed back taxes and penalties.
Had the Romney's taken advantage of this amnesty, it would be visible in the tax returns for 2007 and 2008. They would reflect adjustments for the corrected tax liability as well as relevant penalties. They would prove that Romney was not merely a man who aggressively managed his taxes, not merely a man who made mistakes on his taxes or paid certain obligations late, but a deliberate tax cheat who criminally violated US tax law.
This is the explanation that fits the broadest suite of known facts regarding Romney's refusal to release his tax records. It is the only one that goes some measure to rendering his refusal reasonable. Romney does not hold back his tax returns because of a desire to retain his privacy or to avoid embarrassment.
Romney cannot release them if he actually wishes to ever be the President of the United States.
Why examine Romney’s taxes?
By maria magers roberts
. . .
• On his recent trip abroad, Romney skipped Italy, for good reasons. Bain Capital, with Romney as CEO, made about $1 billion in a leveraged (minimal cash outlay – low-risk) buyout of an Italian company. Bloomberg News reported that Bain funneled its profits through subsidiaries in Luxembourg, a common corporate way to avoid taxes in other European countries. The buyer, Italy’s biggest telephone company, now is valued way below what it paid Bain and other investors for the business. The shock waves of this transaction are still felt in Italy.
• In Romney’s self-directed individual retirement account, he used heavy leveraging and a "blocking company," thereby avoiding the "unrelated business income tax" normally imposed on such gains in IRAs. His IRA’s growth to $100 million is astounding in light of contribution limits of $30,000 annually. On its face, the IRA was likely funded in part with stock shares valued well below market.
• Presidential candidates generally avoid betting the U.S. dollar will lose value by speculating in Swiss francs. Yet such speculation was the stated purpose of Romney’s "blind" trust Swiss bank account, which was closed in early 2010. Was the income reported on earlier tax returns? Did Romney timely file disclosure forms to the Treasury Department?
. . .
• Romney’s apparent disdain for tax obligations is clear from his role in Marriott International’s abusive tax shelter activities. From 1993 to 1998, Romney was head of the audit committee of the Marriott board of directors, with responsibilities that included tax planning. The so-called "Son of Boss" tax shelter helped Marriott sell $81 million of mortgage notes, reporting a $71 million "tax loss." Romney was an insider with perspective on the motivation and lack of substance in the transaction, fully understanding the tax avoidance game. Romney reportedly was the board member most familiar with the transaction.
This shelter, used by Marriott and others, represented one of the largest tax-avoidance schemes in history, costing the U.S. billions in lost tax revenues. In 2008, the U.S. Federal Court of Claims ruled against Marriott, which appealed and lost again. The appeals court sided with the Department of Justice, calling Marriott’s transactions "fictitious," "artificial," "spectral," an "illusion" and a "scheme."
The latest scandal with Mitt Romney and it is difficult to pick just one, since they are coming out every day of the week is the Son of Boss Scandal.
Mitt Romney played a role in the Marriott scandal as Chairman he approved the fictional tax loss in a tax return which was way over 70 million dollars by the Son of Boss method. This is just one more nail in Mitt Romney’s coffin as he tries to explain away these numerous scandals and tax fraud cases he has been involved in for the past 20 years or more. In fact the Marriott’s claim of a 70 million dollar tax loss was purely fictional.
What emerges from this window into corporate tax compliance behavior is the picture of an executive who was willing to go to the edge, if not beyond, to bend the rules to seek an unfair advantage, and then hide behind the advice of so-called experts to deflect criticism when a scheme backfires.
Did Romney participate personally in Son of Boss? Maybe his reticence isn't about overseas accounts?
Marketed in the late ’90s and 2000 to companies and high-income individuals, the Son of Boss tax shelter was later ruled illegal by the federal government. The abusive transactions, however, have continued.
That’s why the IRS took the unusual step of specifying a June 21 (2004) deadline to come forward, provide information about your Son of Boss tax shelter, and settle up with the IRS. Otherwise, you could face jail time.
The guy's starting to sound even more crooked and arrogant than even my vivid imagination had originally imagined!!
Again, I doubt that any of this will sway his most ardent supporters (many of whom are your typical "low information" voter) but hopefully those independents who are still on the fence will see him for what he is and how he would run this country - everything to the benefit of himself and his rich cronies, like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson.
The guy's starting to sound even more crooked and arrogant than even my vivid imagination had originally imagined!!
Again, I doubt that any of this will sway his most ardent supporters (many of whom are your typical "low information" voter) but hopefully those independents who are still on the fence will see him for what he is and how he would run this country - everything to the benefit of himself and his rich cronies, like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson.
Does anyone really care about Mitt Romney's taxes?
I don't particularly like Mitt Romney, but do any of us really need to see an investigation into Mitt Romney's taxes? I'm sure the IRS would have found out and audited him if he did anything illegal. I don't really care one way or the other about his taxes. If he found a legal way to reduce his tax burden, more power to him. What can he do, if anything, to make my life better, and make other people's lives better? That's really the only question I care about. This tax thing is becoming a distraction from bigger issues.
I usually vote GOP, but I'm not voting this time around.
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SALT LAKE CITY TRIBUNE : Why examine Romney's Taxes ?
