Romney's Tax Returns from a Purely Political Analysis Perspective

Why would anybody disclose such information unless there was an agreement of confidentiality?


Whomever (if anybody actually did) started this rumor, could have caught Romney on a cold medicine binge, and in an incapacitated sense of drunkenness, was told things Romney would have never disclosed otherwise. We really do not know the actual circumstances or who was involved, if anybody.


People with tax shelters don’t normally disclose their entire income or the entire purpose of having a tax shelter is a total waste of time. Just saying.

 

That is the question Reid should be asked before a Senate ethics hearing. If Romney had such an agreement he'd know it. And remember Reid said it was a Bain "investor" that told him, where would a Bain "investor" get that information.

He doesn't drink and never has, he is a devout Mormon.

Romney has on his financial disclosure forms of which he has release 10 years worth. He is required by law. And a tax shelter isn't their to hide money, it is to protect money from some or all taxation. The money is not hidden. A tax-free municipal bond is a tax shelter. A charitable organization is a tax-shelter. An ethanol plant is a tax-shelter.

 

Maybe he was bragging to one of his golfing buddy's who happened to be a Bain investor, how the hell should I know, I never said I believed anything Reid said.


Mormons take cough medicine and other medications that are just as lethal as alcohol/tobacco if not more. For someone who isn't accustomed to drinking they would be much more susceptible to the dosages than one might believe. I have an aunt who gets drunk off of night time cold medicine that is sold over the counter. And anybody who believes Mormons don't imbibe is an idiot. Some might not, but every Mormon community I've been in has a large number of liquor stores. In fact the one I am most familiar with since I went to school there (small town community), had a population of about 85% Mormon, and there were 16 drive up liquor stores with windows in the alley for the Mormon's, and just as many bars if not more. IOW 15% of the population could not support such businesses without the jack Mormons contributions. So excuse me if I don't buy the good Mormon routine. One thing that I learned from living among them is they are hypocrites of the highest caliber, and moronic fools if they believe everybody falls for their deceptive dishonesty. Hell at our prom the “non-Mormons” were frisked at the door for contraband, while the good little Mormon kids were not so much as questioned. The kids that wanted to smuggle anything in just gave it too the Mormon kids who’s pockets were not already full.


I know this is obviously a surprise for you but the majority of the off shore accounts that are in place are for rich Americans, to hide their actual income/wealth from Uncle Sugar. They are tax havens for "unclaimed" income. This naive position that rich/elites have off shore accounts but claim every dime is cute, but in this discussion it is a pathetic attempt at intellectual dishonesty that fails miserably.

 

And that is all you are left with isn't it, and remember Reid's spokesperson said it was someone who would know his taxes, not a casual comment. Again there should be an official ethics investigation into Reid, if he told such a lie from the Senate floor he should at the least be censured and removed from his leadership position and more appropriately kicked out.

Oh spare me, now you assert that Romney got high on cough medicine and then told someone his tax information, you know that saying when you are in a hole stop digging.

I got news for you, we have treaties with countries that provide for the information on US citizen accounts and hiding income is a crime. And what is more absurd is that IF and a BIG IF Romney was engaged in such an illegal act IT WOULD NOT BE ON HIS TAX RETURN.....................DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

First off not a lefty. Second I very clearly said I never said I believed anything Reid said, why do you keep insisting I do? I personally believe anything a public official says in public should be treated as if they were under oath (since they basically are), especially on the floor of congress. Do you have a petition I can sign, or does this only pertain to one of the corporate owned parties you choose not to vote for?


I asserted nothing, I said how the hell should I know. Then you went on this diatribe about Mormons don't consume alcohol. Which is totally ridiculous as I already explained.


I got news for you, we have stop signs but that doesn't mean nobody ever runs them. Intellectual dishonesty on parade if you are claiming nobody uses off shore accounts to hide their income.

 

Try writing or calling your Senator or write your paper.

You went off on the absurd Romney may have been drunk not me.

Intellectual dishonesty if you are claiming everyone that has one is engages in tax fraud and especially to insinuate Romney is. Again we have 10 years of financial disclosure forms. How did we know about his to begin with?

 

Our elected officials are not "our" representatives, and unscrupulous corporate sock puppets who would give themselves raises when their approval level is at such an all time low, don't really care what I think.

There is nothing absurd about some rich guy bragging about how they screwed the government, under the influence of a stimuli or otherwise.

I never made any accusation, you on the other hand declared that since there are treaties "nobody" hides their income/wealth in off shore accounts, a claim which could just as well start with the words, 'once upon a time', since it is absolutely an absurd statement that could ever be made.

Then he should have no problem releasing his tax statements as well, just like his father did, as an example of how a great leader would act. I simply do not understand why he is so dead set against the issue of disclosure other than he has something to hide, or he believes he has done something that will be used against him in his run for prez, and there are many 'conservatives' (including myself) who feel the same way I do. If he isn't cheating, if he isn't doing anything illegal, honestly what is the big deal? If nothing else he can show us his tax records as an example of the tax breaks/loopholes/exemptions he has been taking advantage of for a most likely over a decade, and point out the one's he will no longer be taking advantage of in the future. If that is his actual goal, and he isn't talking out both sides of his cheeks yet again.

 

Can anyone popint me to a law that says a presidential candidate has to provide his tax rturns for public scrutiny. If you can't, then be quiet about it because it is moot.

 

The law of public opinion. Even many republicans want the subterfuge to be over so they can get on to bigger and better things. If he has something to hide, he isn’t the right man for the job, plain and simple. Stop the hypocrisy.

5 rules for being a good leader;
#1. Learn from your mistakes- Basically the epitome of the two party scam.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein


#2. Lead by example- Basically don’t be a hypocrite. Do as I say not as I do, is the characteristics of a dictator.


#3. Place the needs of those less fortunate above your own- It’s both Christian and humane, neither should have an exclusive right to the rule.


#4. Display confidence (not arrogance)- Nuff said.


#5. Set high standards (not only for yourself but for those around you)- Integrity, honesty, trustworthy, honest, openness, honesty, just/fair, honest, sincere, honesty, honorable, honest, wholesome, and did I mention honesty?


If you intend on being the man of the people, by the people, and for the people, you gotta step off your high horse, and become the leader they can put their faith into. Otherwise we are going to be electing another democrat sock puppet after this republican one is through screwing the pooch for all it is worth.

 

He won't release any details on his budget plan, or on his medicare plan, why would he release anything as forthcoming as his taxes? He is the first presidential candidate in my memory who's campaign is basically "elect me" then I'll tell you my plans! Elitism arrogance plain and simple. Once you understand this you'll understand the man. He hasn't taken a stand on any major issue facing our country (at least one that he hasn't changed). Look them up and see for yourself. The irony here is that if he is elected he'll never be the "hard-line" conservative that the right wants (particularly on the social issues).

 

He's not Obama and that's all you need to know! Which is a good thing, but… Unfortunately he is on the same corporate payroll as Obama, but they have different initials next to their names, and that is all that seems to matters.


Heaven help us, because collectively this nation is too stupid to do it ourselves.

 

I really hope you keep believing that because I do write mine and they are responsive so the government will do what I want while you sit back and complain about them.

Your specious claim that Romney did is what is absurd, he got drunk on cough syrup and told some guy all about his taxes and that guy told Reid....................yeah absurd.

There are treaties between us and countries all over the world including the Cayman and earnings on accounts are reported to the IRS, again how do we know about Romney's? They are listed in his tax returns and financial diclosure forms. WOW that's really hidden.

Two years plus ten years of financial disclosure forms......................why do we need more?

 

Go to his website, he has released plenty about his plans, then listen to FOX news, read the WSJ, read National Review, read The Weekly Standard and then listen to some good talk radio. And more important LISTEN TO HIS SPEECHES. Did you listen to his energy talk the other day? That you don't know do to your lack of good informational sources and an apparent abundence of a bunch of lousy ones who told you he hadn't. released anything about his plans. Oh that energy talk he gave, at the end one of the MSM reporters got to ask a question, what did he ask about? Romney's tax return. What made the news show, the question about the tax return. So get yourself some better sources and then use your own gumption to learn what his plans are.

 

Again, you're getting emotional about this as is evidenced by your irrational projection of false opinions on others. In your hysterical little tirade, you prattle on about how Reid got the information, and whether he was authorized! And other little stomping of the feet and such. Seriously, next time, pay more attention to the OP and maybe you won't look so foolish. Here, let me help you.
Before you write a bunch of dribble about me wanting to "avoid like the plague!" the possibility that Reid is lying or and "authorization!" and such, you might want to notice the part where I wrote "Reid is probably lying his ass off." or the part where I wrote "I doubt Romney has committed any crimes".
Like the OP says, this thread isn't about "OMG my guy can't possibly be wrong about anything in any way and the other guy is a real poopyhead!" You can throw all the tantrums you want but I've already said I think Reid is lying and I don't care. I also believe Romney has done absolutely nothing wrong and don't care about that either. Form a purely political perspective, it did obvious and possibly permanent damage with Indies and Mods.
This is very much like the abortion issue. If I said the whole Akin / GOP Policy Position thing hurt Romney with Mods and women, you could throw all the tantrums you want but that remains a fact.

 

Spare the emotional nonsense and try to address the substance of what I stated next time.

 

Not in the Constitution, so it means nothing to me whatsoever.

Those that want it in there, want it because of success warfare; that in itself is just one more reason to vote against their preference.

The irony is it seems like the Democrats want a flat income tax, that would fix two problems right there, then Obama pays the same percentage in taxes as Romney, his people can't be mad, and there is no need to release tax returns because everyone pays the same percentage in taxes.

Say a man has $250 million in net worth and paid $3 million in taxes, and another man has 11.8 million net worth and paid $454,000 in taxes, who paid the higher percentage in taxes?

It is like, gag me with a spoon, more than double, make the 14% an issue to be rectified so Obama is not paying almost double, and it gets worse. Since Democrats are cowards and will not say WHY Romney should pay more, might as well flatten out the taxes and lower Obama's taxes so there will be no complaints about this:

"Obama paid nearly double the tax rate of Mitt Romney but earned far less...The president paid 25 percent of his gross income in federal tax, compared to Romney’s 13.7 percent." http://www.politico.com/politico44/...ouble-the-tax-rate-of-mitt-romney-112016.html

So flat income tax proponents (I am not one) are given a gift by Obama. We can do away with the need to release tax returns for the law of public opinion and see to it Obama and others pay no more income taxes by percentage than Romney.

Since Obama says the 14% is important, because we know Obama and others are paying almost double the tax rate of Mitt Romney, and that is why people are mad. Might as well just vote for Romney and lower Obama's taxes.

 

If you got them on your payroll I'm proud for you. If not they don’t give two squats what you think either.


What ever you say, I learned more about how rich people cheat on their taxes and f$#% the system, working as a caddy in my youth, from the rich/elites themselves, than I ever did asking a government employee. The fact that you honestly do not believe the rich cheat on their taxes, use the system they designed in their favor, or that the main use of off shore accounts is to hide income, is cute, but irrelevant.


There is no doubt he has legitimate accounts off shore he makes a lot of investments that have a paper trail, and those accounts must be declared. Never said otherwise. A person would be stupid to leave themselves wide open when there is a paper trail. That is why most cash businesses have several sets of books, and why franchises are insisting that their franchise owners do all business on computers these days. The government rarely ever sees the real books, but the paper trail will lean towards the one they get to see.


Like I said he could show us, by example of his own tax returns how the loopholes/breaks/exemptions, he is claiming to be in favor of getting rid of work, and why they should be removed. Visual aids are always much easier to follow. Why not see it from a pro?

 

Nobody but O-bots (desperate to deflect attention from Obama's horrible record) cares about Romney's tax returns.

Undecideds and real independents care more about stuff like this:

http://www.politicalforum.com/elections-campaigns/263453-real-issue.html

 

Please keep believing that and don't ever write or call or go and meet with your representitives.

And now you make a huge leap in logic to claim I said there are no rich people who cheat on their taxes. There are people at all income levels that cheat on their taxes, I would even go so far as to say there are far more middle and lower income earners who cheat on their taxes.

Romney's tax returns are subject to the same scrutiney as everyone else, perhaps even more so. There is not a scintilla of evidence that the IRS has even suspected he has cheated on his taxes nor paid what he owed under the law.

But HEY you make a great case for going to a tax system with far fewer deductions and credits you call loophole and tax cheating schemes. That is EXACTLY what Romney wants to do so why don't you support him? In fact do you support a flat tax or the Fair Tax which will take away the power of politicians to use the tax system to get "paid off" and no reason for rich people to pay them off to get better tax treatment.

Why, we know how they work. In his case the vast majority of it is that you give to charity. You don't know how to do that? He has about $250,000,000 and only about $30,000,000 was in offshore accounts. WOW what a BIG TAX SCHEME!

 

Government tends to grow larger, republicans/democrats makes little difference? They always talk about it but rarely do anything, but if the labor dept statistics I've heard are true Obama reduced government employees by over 600,000 since 2009. If this is true, republicans should be ecstatic, but their own media won't even discuss the topic and insist that it didn't go down but actually went up by 500,000, with no source to support the claim.

I honestly haven't a clue since I do not trust government statistics whether they are being toted by a 'd' or an 'r'.

I like many conservatives believe he should just show them and be done with it, but evidently he has something to hide, or believes he has something that needs to be hid. Don’t trust him any more thanI do Obama.

 

Very doubtful since the tax code was invented, conceived, and implemented by the rich/elites and their political sock puppets, who will not let it go without a fight.

Nothing is going to stand out as an ah-ha, we found that he cheated. What the public will see, more than anything is how the rich use the system to make themselves richer. If I were him I wouldn't want to show that either.

Indeed I would if they were indeed 'flat' or 'fair', haven't seen an example of one yet that was though. And it isn't me stopping one from being promoted, it is the rich/elites like Romney who will never allow the discussion to reach any further than that, a discussion.

You mean like donating money to your Church and then get pay outs from that ‘donation’ to pay for expenses when you are doing the lords work, like so many of the religious charlatans do? I'm sure his paper work is all in order, since he most likely has an army of accountants on the job. In any case if he is using the off shore accounts for hiding income it certainly wouldn't be on his IRS tax forms. Kinda defeats the purpose don't ya think? It's the suitcases of unclaimed cash that goes through account after account, laundering it over and over until it gets lost in the shuffle then it finally comes to rest in an account the IRS will never know about.


There is over 18 trillion dollars “hidden” in accounts out of the country by the rich elites. As in not reported on any IRS paperwork. They are stashed away so tight the IRS is the last entity that will have full access.


There's a thin line between tax avoidance and evasion anyway and most of these, so-called, 'corporate' transactions might not stand up in court, even if the IRS had the resources or the inclination to pursue them, but they don't. Why don't you drop the naive baloney. You know as well as I do that the way the tax laws are written, money can be hidden in plain sight or out of sight and mind, and never come into question, especially if major corporations are involved. How many billions was bank of America found responsible for laundering for the drug cartels again? It's done so often it's not even a secret in most cases, just a manner of doing the right paperwork, or none at all.

 

It's not, we are at record levels of government employees after Bush and the Republicans had been bringing it down.

First number is Executive Branch, then uniformed military, then Legislative/Judicial then total

2000 4 2,639 1,426 63 4,129
2001 4 2,640 1,428 64 4,132
2002 2,630 1,456 66 4,152
2003 2,666 1,478 65 4,210
2004 2,650 1,473 64 4,187
2005 2,636 1,436 65 4,138
2006 2,637 1,432 63 4,133
2007 2,636 1,427 63 4,127
2008 2,692 1,450 64 4,206
2009 2,774 1,591 66 4,430
2010 4 2,776 1,602 64 4,443
http://www.opm.gov/feddata/HistoricalTables/TotalGovernmentSince1962.asp

It think they are talking total Fed/State/Local.

Who do you support in this election?

 

Probably Johnson at this point. You going with more of the same old same old?


Spare me the, I'm going to be responsible for an Obama win. If he does that distinct honor goes where it is due. The republican party, for trying to place a corporatist sock puppet against another corporatist sock puppet, instead of placing the best interest in the country as a whole in the hands of a true conservative.

 

It will be either Romney or Obama, who do you support the most?

It, the honor of having Obama as President again, will go with anyone who did not vote for Romney, that is your choice. If you want 4 more years of Obama then vote for Johnson, but then don't complain about Obama and his policies and the ruin of the country. Time to deal with reality and be pragmatic about it.

 

We do need to remove the government "ratchet."

Smaller government is better government.