To: Mitt Romney
Demand That Mitt Romney Release His Tax Returns NOW
We call on you, Governor Romney, to immediately release your tax returns dating back to 2000. Despite requests from your opponents, from your supporters, and from the general public, you have failed to do so, or even acknowledge the importance of doing so, and don’t intend to release any returns until April 15.
High profile supporters of yours who have called on you to release these returns now include New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, and Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown. The editors of the conservative National Review, and numerous other editors and writers, have also publicly urged you to disclose the records now, rather than in April.
The release of your tax returns may not hurt you one bit. Or it could derail your candidacy. But either way, Americans deserve to know more about the man who’s likely to receive the Republican nomination. Republicans yet to vote in primaries should know now, instead of voting for you and waiting until April to find out facts that may have changed their vote.
Governor Romney, you, who have “lived in the real streets of America,” need to get real, and release your tax returns now. As your opponent Newt Gingrich has done. As President Barack Obama has done. As many, many presidents and candidates have done. And as your father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, did during his 1968 presidential bid. Your dad said, "No presidential candidate should be afraid to confront the electorate with the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it might be for either of them." You would be wise to heed his words.
During his campaign, President Obama released eight years of tax returns, dating back to 2000, prior to releasing his 2007 tax return at the time of filing. He has continued to release his returns each year. At the very least, we demand that you similarly release your last 11 tax returns, dating back to 2000, like your potential opponent has done. In doing so, and releasing your 2011 return on April 15, you will also be following in the footsteps of your father, who released 12 of his tax returns. (Your dad paid a 37% tax rate, in case you can’t remember.) If you truly honor transparency, and put real value in presenting truth to your electorate, release your returns dating back to 1984, when you founded Bain Capital.
We the people demand transparency in our government. If you continue to refuse disclosure, then you’ll be on record for ignoring bipartisan, popular sentiment. And if you do decide to release your returns, we’ll get the transparency we deserve, and you’ll get credit for being honest and open.
Why is this important?
These days, there are few issues that can unite Democrats and Republicans. However, here is one that concerns members of both parties and all potential voters. Willard Mitt Romney has refused to release his tax returns any time soon, despite calls from his opponents, from his supporters, and from the general public. Why should Romney supporters ask for this release? As Newt Gingrich pointed out in the second South Carolina debate, “If there’s anything in there that’s gonna help us lose the election, then we should know it before the nomination.”
Romney said recently that releasing his tax returns now would be “a nice little present” for the Democrats. So how could Democrats pass up a gift now, and another in April when his 2011 returns are due? By waiting until April, when he’s said he’ll release his 2011 returns and maybe a few other select years to be determined, he’s avoiding potential controversy that could arise during the primary process, while his returns from 2010 and before are long finished and possibly damaging - or so he’s implying, by withholding them.
There have been reports that Romney harbors much of his wealth in tax shelters on the Cayman Islands, which could bring his combined tax rate to a figure even lower than the 15% - the capital gains and dividends rate - he has claimed to pay. Even if his rate is in fact 15%, that’s considerably lower than that of Americans who earn a tiny fraction of his income. Other reports speculate that Romney may have been a leading player in the Mormon Church’s campaign to attack marriage equality in California, and his tax returns would reveal how much money he pumped into this initiative. And he still may not have paid taxes from many years ago, because of the “carried interest” loophole made possible by his private equity portfolio.
A Man Out Of Touch
Romney has called the $374,327 he made in speaker’s fees between February 2010 and February 2011 “not very much.” This is seven times the median household income in the United States, but only a small portion of Romney’s income - so to him, yes, this is a negligible amount of money.
He has bet $10,000 on national television and admits that he likes to fire people.
He thinks discussions about income inequality - about the rich, and the rest - can take place “in quiet rooms,” but not as part of a campaign. He thinks these discussions constitute the “politics of envy,” as opposed to a vital - possibly the pivotal - issue in the 2012 presidential campaign. Do the Great Recession and the nation’s drastically high unemployment rate have nothing to do with the vast wealth inequality in America? Shouldn’t a presidential candidate believe in addressing these issues with his voters?
People have many questions for this man whose perspective on income appears disconnected from the reality of working-class Americans. It’s our right, as voters, to know how much money he’s making, what tax rates he’s paying, and where his donations are going. This disclosure will only begin to answer some of these questions.
*Romney has announced that he'll release his 2010 returns, and an 'estimate' of his 2011 returns, on Tuesday, January 24. This is not nearly enough.