I think we keep talking about these companies as evil, whether it was the investment banker, the mortgage lender, the real estate agents, the home builders or the end consumer; each of them got caught up in the false believe that home prices would rise and used too much leverage to bet hard on that belief. Governments benefitted in higher taxes, bankers in disgusting fees and consumers used their homes as credit cards to buy junk. All of this is idiotic behavior and extremely poor decisionmaking that has left many without jobs, savings, homes and is resulted in the failure of many financial institutions, lenders, individuals and now municipalities. I just don't believe the underlying theme of this economic collapse was illegality, but was simply extremely poor decision making. Now again its a question of whether its illegal to leverage up 20 to 1 and bet on housing? Whether you're an investment bank, a real estate agent, a builder or a consumre? Is it illegal or just stupid?
Fair point I was clumsy with my response and wasn't clear. Instead of being so generous to his church maybe paying a 26% tax rate instead of 15% might be a little more helpful to the country.
It's Starting To Look Like Romney Has A Dirty Tax Secret Mitt Romney has so far released only one year of tax returns (2010), plus an estimate for 2011. This stands in stark contrast to his father, Michigan Governor George Romney, who released 12 years of tax returns when he began running for President in 1967. As his father said at the time, "One year could be a fluke." So the questions remain about what is in Romney's older returns. Two stories this week and last have ratcheted up the pressure. One is a recent web exclusive for "The Last Word with Laurence O'Donnell" where David Cay Johnston has five questions for Romney that can only be answered with his tax returns. The other is a blockbuster story by Nicholas Shaxson (h/t TPM) in the new Vanity Fair on the shadowy world of Romney's tax havens. Together, they put a laser-like focus on the finances of the man who could become our 45th President. Johnston is a well-known former New York Times reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner, and the author of the major books Perfectly Legal and Free Lunch. If you don't have time to watch his 3:45 video, here are the five questions: "1. Did you buy any illegal or gray area tax shelters? "2. Did an IRS audit ever uncover serious problems with any of your tax returns? "3. Did you make use of offshore vehicles to defer, or avoid paying, federal income taxes? "4. Did you take advantage of any tax strategies that the IRS did not uncover in audits? "5. Did you fully tithe to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints every year and take a deduction on your tax return that shows that?" These are important questions. We know that Governor Romney has had a Swiss bank account, as well as money in other tax havens like the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Bermuda, and Ireland. Romney's answer to any question about his taxes has basically been, "Trust me." But the guy's running for President, for Pete's sake. He owes us more than that. Shaxson, a researcher for the Tax Justice Network and author of the book Treasure Islands, asks us to consider the possibility that maybe not everything Romney has done tax-wise has been legal. He opens with a story told by a former Bain employee about how Romney encouraged him to lie to get secret information on competitors. There is, of course, the fact that Romney has funds parked in numerous tax havens and the fact that his supposedly "blind" trust invested in a business started by Romney's son Tagg, and the fact that he has $102 million in his IRA despite a contribution limit of $2000 per year for the entire 15 years Romney ran Bain. Obviously nothing to see here... The standard answer of the Romney campaign to all this is that he always followed the law. As Jon Stewart had to point out since the major media did not, Romney did plenty to affect the law he was supposedly "just following," including his defense of the "covered interest" tax loophole that let him treat his fees at Bain as if they were capital gains (15% tax) rather than wages (35% tax). All perfectly legal and as Johnston points out in his book by that name, that is the real scandal. Further, Shaxson reveals that an early filing of the original Bain Capital fund in 1984 showed that many of its foreign investors were routed through tax havens and that at least one was a notorious financial criminal, Robert Maxwell. Thus, Bain helped foreigners take advantage of the fact that the United States has set itself up as a tax haven for non-citizens (see also Jason Sharman's paper on setting up anonymous companies in the U.S. and elsewhere; h/t Robert Kudrle). Shaxson quotes Rebecca Wilkins of Citizens for Tax Justice, “It is shocking that a presidential candidate should think that is O.K.” for Bain to service the likes of Robert Maxwell. The bottom line is that there is a lot of unsettling information in what investigators have so far been able to piece together about Romney's finances. The easiest way for Governor Romney to put to rest what his campaign described to Shaxson as "unfounded allegations and insinuations" would be to release his tax returns. Yet he has not done so and shows no sign of changing his mind. Josh Marshall calls the questions "kryptonite" and thinks Romney will come under a lot of pressure to release more tax returns. Let's hope so. The guy's running for President, for Pete's sake. Read more: http://middleclasspoliticaleconomis...mist)&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz20NQUrdz7
Great post, Rashmon. I have yet to hear a credible reason for Romney to not release his income tax returns beyond the one return in 2010.
romney is hiding his religion for one... while it 'shouldn't matter' what his religious affiliation is, most of his own party is pulling their hair out to support him. his religion is at odds with the majority of the tea party. his religion is the major factor - making every nerdy move he makes seem that much creepier. obama in a landslide.
Haha, and? What does your opinion of the validity of my answer have to do with this topic or me proving tallanover wrong twice? Do you have anything to contribute to the discussion or are you just gonna act butthurt? Granville why you so smart?
I can't see how someone would not be for all politicians, especially those running for out highest office, being required to give more than 2 years of tax returns. And so far no one in this thread seems to be disagreeing because even the Romney defenders can't seem to muster anything more than "well some other politician hasn't released so why should he." Romney is perfectly within the law for what he is required to release, but the law makes no sense given that we should care about transparency of money in politics. All politicians, especially those running for President should be required to produce their tax returns for a longer period than just the last 2 years. It is exceedingly doubtful that he has anything illegal to hide because he's a smart guy who has wanted to be involved in politics for a very long time and he wasn't going to sink his own ship over a couple illegal millions. What is more likely is that his team thinks his tax returns will make him look out of touch. This is a political move by the Democrats, but just because it is a political move doesn't make it a bad idea - I'm all for pulling back the veil on money in politics and requiring tax returns for everyone running for the Congress, Senate, Governorships, and especially the Presidency.
Is it realistic to think that a succesful businessman like Romney would run for President knowing that a look at his tax returns would effectively end his already-unlikely road to the throne? This is just a distraction. It may be a valid request, and it may be a comparable retort to the Obama birth certificate mess, but don't get caught up in these issues. The biggest thing that can come out of this is you'll discover this guy was stupid enough to leave a trail of proof for his dishonesty. As if him being dishonest makes him any different than 99% of candidates. I wish you guys would focus more on bigger, better issues. Maybe the issue that needs to be discussed this widely is not whether Romney is an honest person? Maybe the best thing to focus on is how to achieve a system where this guy will do what he's told by the people regardless of his personal charateristics/traits. Whatever comes out of this vengeful quest will not affect the overall likelihood of him screwing you over down the line.
Can we get a headcount on who wanted to fire Geithner for not properly filimg his tax returns? This seems more serious in the millions category.
This has nothing to do with his wealth--we have a car elevator for that. The election is going to be about the economy. Romney's entire campaign is predicated on the idea that he's better on economic issues. Let's just to forget for a moment about the frivolity of the attacks on Obama for bowing the king of Saudi Arabia or the permission slips that were required before the President of the United States gave a talk to the children of America because, um... because... I think I'm too ashamed by this to even be countrymen with the people that said it... because: "indoctrination." From POTUS. These are the people that brought us "Obama's not really a Christian" and also brought us "Obama is a Muslim that wants to impose Sharia law." I could spend 1,000 words easy just naming the ridiculous, below-the-belt hits on Obama. This is not one of those and it's not like one of those. It's not a gotcha thing or a shady strategy. It's not about questioning his beliefs, his veracity, it's in no way personal. And it is not dirty and it cannot be off-limits. And are you kidding? This election is going to be about the economy, jobs, the deficit, the debt, outsourcing, venture capitalism, regulations, taxes, bringing jobs and money back to America, etc. "Swiss bank account" is a famous cliche. So is "Cayman Islands." So is "offshore finance." These terms aren't just precisely good descriptors of Romney's bad acts; they are actually so much those things that to describe them you have to use the cliches that arose to describe such offenses. Everybody knows a "Swiss bank account" is a shady thing. That's what those words mean even more than they mean "a kind of bank account." What a presidential candidate says is important. What he does is also important--more so with a candidate that takes every opportunity to talk out both sides of his mouth; his policies and promises are not important to him as we well know so that leaves his deeds by which to judge him. And it goes to how he might behave as president as well. This is not about his wealth. It's about his willful gaming of the system that has resulted in max money for Romney and masses of lost revenues for the United States. He'd probably bomb Iran for a special gift to the Let's Fight More Wars fdf God
I'm not sure that you are as well versed in American politics as you might want to be, based on this post. America has a long history of politicians, some very prominent, some running for President or Vice-President, thinking they could get away with concealing parts of their past, whether it was an affair unknown to their spouse (and the electorate), having a history of mental illness, or financial chicanery. I absolutely believe that Romney could be running for President thinking that his overseas investments in tax shelters, among other things, could denied and the "waters muddied" until after the election, figuring that then it would be a "tempest in a teapot" that wouldn't matter once he won the office, and even thinking it will never come out at all. People have an amazing ability to delude themselves, and that includes those running for the highest office. Whether Romney is concealing politically damaging, even illegal, information about his finances, or not, he needs to make a full disclosure of his financial history. The man is running for President of the United States.
John Edwards ran for President while in the midst of an affair while his wife had terminal cancer. Never underestimate what politicians think they can get away with.
I'm just laughing at you getting clowned and you're too dumb to figure it out. It's hysterical really. Carry on.
Uh, oh... Romney listed as Bain CEO on gov’t forms years after he says he quit: report Republican candidate Mitt Romney was listed as the chairman and CEO of Bain Capital on certain government documents years after 1999, when he ostensibly left the private equity firm, The Boston Globe reports. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ele...s-quit-report-article-1.1112875#ixzz20QRMt3lT Republican candidate Mitt Romney was listed as the chairman and CEO of Bain Capital on certain government documents years after he says he gave up control of the private equity firm, The Boston Globe reported Thursday. Romney has said he left the firm in February 1999 to take charge of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and has repeatedly used that as a defense when asked about bankruptcies and worker layoffs at Bain-controlled companies after that date. The Globe, however, said it found nine SEC filings that describe Romney as running the company after that point. The report said some indicate he had control of five Bain Capital entities formed in January 2002. In addition, the newspaper said Massachusetts disclosure forms indicate that Romney made at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, apart from his investment earnings. They also show he was paid as a Bain executive while he was directing the Olympics, the Globe reported. READ MORE: ROMNEY SAYS HIS BLIND TRUST HOLDS OFFSHORE ASSETS BUT IS HIDING NOTHING "The article is not accurate,” said Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul in a statement responding to the story. “As Bain Capital has said, as Governor Romney has said, and as has been confirmed by independent fact checkers multiple times, Governor Romney left Bain Capital in February of 1999 to run the Olympics and had no input on investments or management of companies after that point." The Globe said Bain also denied that Romney was involved in running the firm after 1999. The newspaper said a Romney campaign source blamed discrepancies in the SEC forms on legal quirks and technicalities. The Boston Globe report, however, adds to questions about Romney’s personal finances that have plagued his campaign in recent days. Romney’s Democratic opponents have hit at him for releasing just one year of tax returns and for not disclosing more information about his funds held in known tax havens outside the U.S. President Obama’s campaign immediately seized upon the Globe report, with spokesman Ben LaBolt asking in a tweet: “Did Romney lie to the American people or the SEC?” Vice President Joe Biden had slammed Romney for failing to release more information about his finances during a speech Wednesday to the National Council of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group. “He wants you to show your papers, but he won’t show us his,” Biden said. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ele...s-quit-report-article-1.1112875#ixzz20QRDztrt
Ha. My girlfriend came out to the living room and asked, "Are you coming to bed soon?" And I said, "Yeah, yeah, I know it's late, I just gotta finish this thought about Romney for Clutchfans," to which she very understandingly said, "Okay, honey, see you soon." She is sometimes a bit of a Clutchfans widow, a phenomenon I think many of you have probably witnessed in your own domestic/romantic/marital/whatever situations, but she can deal. It's not the worst thing about me she has to deal with. Anyway, about four hours later she woke me up on the couch and helped me to bed and I slept a bit and then I woke up and got coffee and checked email, etc. and I said, "Did I fall asleep on the couch?" And she said, "Yes, you were finishing something about Romney for Clutchfans but were coming to bed after but you fell asleep on the couch." And I thought, "Hmm. I wonder what I was writing." So I came to check. And I was following along with myself for a while saying, yes, that makes sense, okay, that's not bad, that's a touch weak, way to go off on a tangent Batman, okay, back on topic, not great but good, oh hey that part was pretty good, and then what??? Which was when I realized that I'd fallen asleep in the middle of posting but had somehow still managed to hit submit. Totally sober. How I both passed out in the middle and managed to submit will forever be a great mystery of my life. The first memory it brought to mind was that poor girl in college that suffered the indignity of my passing out while she was blowing me. At least that time I was drunk.
So which is it Mitt? Either you lied in federal filings (a felony) or lied to the American people. What are you hiding?
