It's Starting To Look Like Romney Has A Dirty Tax Secret

[FarCenter]

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?"

...

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...

http://www.businessinsider.com/its-starting-to-look-like-romney-has-a-dirty-tax-secret-2012-7

$102 million in an IRA? WTF!!!!!!

[hedgehog]

1. Maybe he did only contribute the legal maximum each year,

it's jut that his IRA has a hell of a return!

[hifiguy]

2. The catacombs of Rome have fewer skeletons

in them than the Mittwit's banking practices. This will be good and is a win-win for Obama. Either Mittwit says nothing and gives the unquestionable appearance of sharp practice, flat-out cheating and evasion or he comes clean and proves it.

[kestrel91316]

3. I think he's trying to hide the fact that he's a billionaire and one of the richest men in the USA,

and probably that he pays little in the way of income tax, and has dodgy tax shelters up the wazoo.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. An interesting thought. n/t

[FSogol]

5. K & R. I want the whole country discussing Romney's tax avoidance schemes & offshore bank accounts

[FairyDust]

6. American's stolen Pension Funds from Bain?

Just a thought

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Ruh-Roh.

[randome]

8. Last time around, no one vetted the VP nominee.

This time, no one has vetted the Presidential nominee. A pattern emerges. The GOP is truly imploding. We need to take full advantage of that.