GOOD MORNING WORLD
The headline for the weekend was all about Harry Reid calling for Mitt Romney to provide more tax returns. Sen. Reid did this from the floor of the Senate where he enjoys immunity and could make an unsubstantiated claim that he had heard that Mr. Romney paid no taxes for the last ten years. Mr. Romney in a speech said this was not true and called for Sen. Reid to put up or shut up. The head of the RNC this weekend called Harry Reid a ‘dirty liar.’ Are we having fun yet? I decided to do a little looking on my own to find some facts.
Fact number 1 that to run for President of the United States of America you have to be 35 and a natural born citizen.
Fact number 2 is you have to file intent with the Federal Election Commission. They have a Candidate Registration Tool Kit handy and ready for you. The paperwork alone would stop many people. You have to fill financial disclosure forms. These forms looked to be like the liability and assets forms we fill out when we buy a house or take out any loan. There are other ‘Tool Kits’ for PACS and others that will help with your campaign.
Fact number 3 and perhaps the most pertinent to this post is that no candidate is required to present his tax returns to run for President. In fact according to the Tax History Project at http://www.taxhistory.org/www/website.nsf/web/presidentialtaxreturns:
Individual income tax returns — including those of public figures — are private information, protected by law from unauthorized disclosure. Indeed, the Internal Revenue Service is barred from releasing any taxpayer information whatsoever, except to authorized agencies and individuals.
Like all other citizens, U.S. presidents enjoy this protection of their privacy. Since the early 1970s, however, most presidents have chosen to release their returns publicly. In the hope of making this information more widely available, the Tax History Project at Tax Analysts has compiled an archive of presidential tax returns.
From what I gathered a lot of the disclosure of tax info came after Vice-President Spiro Agnew ran into trouble with his taxes and was replaced. In the past few years many Presidents have released multiple returns. Three or more were the norm. HOWEVER, President Gerald Ford only released a summary of the last few years of his taxes.
Mitt Romney has released all of his 2010 taxes. This includes taxes for (again from the Tax History Project):
Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney
2010 | 2011
Ann Romney
2010
Ann and Mitt Romney Family Trust
2010
Tyler Charitable Foundation
2010
He said he will submit his 2011 when they are complete. That is sufficient for me as a voter. I am not reading them. I file long form for us and that takes multiple pages. Cannot imagine the paperwork required for the Romney’s with all their interests. Once all is said and done and the Romney’s took all the deductions that they are legally allowed they may not have paid many taxes. Change the tax laws do not penalize people who use it.
The other part of this is if Mitt Romney had not filed nor paid taxes in ten years do you not think he would be in jail or at least in court? The IRS went after Wesley Snipes and Willie Nelson. Would they not go after the Romney’s?
Paying taxes aside, the Romney’s certainly give away much of their wealth. He gave away his whole inheritance from his father.
As for Harry Reid, “Shame on you.” The Senators are called to fill out personal financial disclosure forms. Harry Reid has filled these out and not submitted tax returns. This form I believe is similar to the financial disclosure that Presidential candidates are required to fill out in the ‘Tool Kit’.
I have to agree with some of the news that I have read on this issue that seem to believe that Reid is just blowing smoke. No one from the Democratic Party has affirmed his innuendo as fact. The Presidential spokesman, Jay Carney sidestepped it with saying that the reporters knew Harry Reid. Is making a statement that cannot be proved like yelling ‘Fire’ in a movie theater when there is none?
Perhaps here Nancy Pelosi may be right. She said you have to pass it to read it so would that not translate to – let’s elect Mitt Romney then we can see his taxes? This tax stuff is just smoke indeed!
…..ONWARD TO MORE MISADVENTURE…
ktsquared 