Round Two: July-August 2012
On Jan. 24, 2012, after a considerable brouhaha, former Gov. Mitt Romney released his 2010 tax returns and estimated returns for 2011.  The issue of his tax returns and finances largely receded to the background for the rest of the primaries.  However, it re-emerged in the summer, and fanned by the Obama campaign, the Democrats, and their allies the issue reached a new crescendo in mid-July 2012.  Romney points out that in the 2008 campaign Sen. John McCain only released two years of returns.  Other candidates such as Ross Perot and Ralph Nader refused to release any returns at all.  Romney is within his rights, but having this issue front and center may not serve him well (+).  There was a steady drip, drip, drip of stories.  Opponents had a field day (a, b, c; d), there were many editorials on the subject, and a number of Republicans, fearing the effect on Romney's prospects, joined in the chorus.
See also:
Nicholas Shaxson.  "Where the Money Lives," Vanity Fair, August 2012.

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PRESS RELEASE from Obama for America

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, April 5, 2012
CONTACT: Obama for America Press
 
 
CHICAGO, IL -- Obama for America Campaign Manager Jim Messina released the following statement on today’s Washington Post report:
 
“Mitt Romney has asked Americans to elect him President based on his experience as a corporate buyout specialist.  Each week, new questions are raised about whether he took unusual steps to avoid paying his fair share in taxes.  Today’s report suggests that Governor Romney is exploiting a loophole in order to shield his assets and investments from public review.” 
 
“Mitt Romney has put his personal financial assets in a black box and hid the key, attempting to play by a different set of rules than any candidate in recent history. In fact, Mitt Romney’s own father released 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president.  President Bush released his tax returns dating back to 1991.  And President Obama released his returns dating back to 2000 when he ran for president.”
 
“Governor Romney provided 23 years worth of tax returns to the McCain campaign so they could determine if he would make a suitable Vice President.  He must meet that same standard now so that the American people may judge whether he would be a suitable President, and whether there are any conflicts of interest that could cloud his judgment.”
 
HIGHLIGHTS:
 
Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, whose wealth has become a central issue in the 2012 campaign, has taken advantage of an obscure exception in federal ethics laws to avoid disclosing the nature and extent of his holdings.
 
By offering a limited description of his assets, Romney has made it difficult to know precisely where his money is invested, whether it is offshore or in controversial companies, or whether those holdings could affect his policies or present any conflicts of interest.
 
…
 
Several outside experts across the political spectrum, however, say Romney’s disclosure is the most opaque they have encountered, with some suggesting the filing effectively defeats the spirit of disclosure requirements.
 
“His approach turns the whole purpose of the ethics statute on its ear,” said Cleta Mitchell, a Republican lawyer who has represented dozens of candidates and officials in the disclosure process, including Romney’s leading challenger for the GOP nomination, Rick Santorum.
 
…
 
Under pressure, Romney recently released hundreds of pages of tax returns for 2010 and estimated returns for 2011. A comparison of those returns with his federal and state “personal financial disclosure” reports and corporate filings at the SEC revealed dozens of discrepancies – and provided a window into what might emerge if Romney revealed the assets he holds in Bain accounts.
 
“I don’t know what legal authority exists for the federal ethics office to allow Mitt Romney not to disclose these assets,” said Mitchell, the Republican campaign lawyer. “The statute intends for presidential candidates to publicly disclose underlying assets.”
 
…
 
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Joe Sandler, a Democratic Party lawyer who has shepherded candidates and nominees through the disclosure process for 26 years. “Romney’s approach frustrates the very purpose of the ethics and disclosure laws,” he said.
 
…
 
Mitchell and several other Washington campaign lawyers say they advise candidates to reveal underlying assets, divest them if they cannot be disclosed or choose not to seek public office.
 
“My clients have had fund managers squawk about their ‘proprietary information’ and I’ve always been told, ‘There is no choice — the law requires disclosure,’ ” Mitchell said.
 
Canfield, the former Senate ethics lawyer, will not comment on Romney’s assets. But, he said, “I always counsel my clients to err on the side of disclosure” and to note on ethics forms “the same description of assets they would disclose to the IRS.” Doing so, he said, is in keeping with the spirit of the law and prevents embarrassing questions about discrepancies.
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romney-using-ethics-exception-to-limit-disclosure-of-bain-holdings/2012/04/05/gIQARcVmxS_story.html


Romney using ethics exception to limit disclosure of Bain holdings
By Tom Hamburger, Thursday, April 5, 1:10 PM

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PRESS RELEASE from Obama for America

For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 7, 2012
Contact: Obama for America

Romney’s Admission Raises Questions About Tax Avoidance, Length of Bain Tenure

 
CHICAGO, IL -- Obama for America General Counsel Robert Bauer released the following statement regarding Governor Romney’s admission that his so-called blind trust is not truly blind in an Associated Press article published last night.  The full article can be viewed here:  http://bit.ly/MiIGjA
 
“First, Governor Romney now admits to the Associated Press that the personal trusts holding his investments are not truly ‘blind’ under federal ethics law.  For almost a decade, Governor Romney has claimed an arms’ length relationship from his investments by claiming a ‘blind trust,’ which was being managed by his personal attorney.  That is how he denied responsibility for his investments in a Swiss bank account, Chinese companies, companies that do business in Iran, and Bermuda and Cayman Island tax havens.   Yet, even as he admits that his ‘blind’ trust isn't truly blind, he's only promising to fix it if he's elected president.   This raises serious questions about exactly what conflicts of interest currently are raised by Mitt Romney's foreign investments and how they impact his policies and positions on the campaign trail. 
 
Second, the Associated Press has discovered that, in 2010, while Mr. Romney was planning to run for President, it was arranged for a family trust to acquire new interests in Bain Capital through a Bain partnership established in the Cayman Islands.  This arrangement entitles the Romneys to millions of dollars in fresh income from his Bain profit sharing agreement for years to come.  Remarkably, Governor Romney’s campaign has admitted that he continues to receive the 15% carried interest tax rate – instead of ordinary income rates -- on his Bain capital profits.  These carried interest rates are available to active participants in investment firms who provide ‘services’ to those firms.  But Mitt Romney claims to have ceased any formal relationship with Bain in 1999 and distances himself from any Bain Capital actions or investments since that time. The basis for this preferential tax treatment is not known, because the Governor will not disclose it.
 
In fact, none of Romney’s agreements with Bain, including his retirement agreement,   have been disclosed, ‘leaving voters with little information about his continuing ties to the firm.’   Nor has the Governor yet fulfilled the commitment he made during the primaries to provide, as have Presidential candidates before him, more than one year of tax returns.
 
Therefore, only the Governor can answer the significant questions raised by what we do know about his investments and tax obligations.   These include:  
 
-- Why has the Governor decided to defer the establishment of a true blind trust--committing to it only in the event that he wins the election?  What level of involvement in his trust and investments is the current "non-blind’ arrangement structured to protect?
 
-- What are the conflict of interest implications of the arrangements made now, when the Governor is a presidential candidate, for millions to be paid to him during a Romney Presidency? 
 
-- If the Governor has ceased providing services to Bain, how does he continue to receive preferential carried interest tax rates on his Bain investments?  What is the nature of the financial relationship he maintains with Bain Capital?
 
-- When will the Governor release the tax returns required to allow for a clear picture of his investment and tax strategies and positions in recent years?”
 
 

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PRESS RELEASE from Obama for America

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, July 18, 2012  

Contact: Obama for America Press

 

More Calls for Romney to Release Tax Returns

 

CHICAGO -- Another day, another round of searing headlines in newspapers across the country for Mitt Romney regarding his refusal to release more tax returns. Despite growing calls for more disclosure and more transparency, Romney continues to refuse to release his returns because he doesn’t want the American people to know whether he’s taken advantage of foreign tax havens or offshore bank accounts to avoid paying his fair share. As pundits around the nation have noted, the American people deserve more from someone vying to lead the country.
 
Release the returns, Mr. Romney
Washington Post // Editorial
For most American citizens, income tax returns are a private matter, and federal law protects that privacy. For those who would be president, a different standard applies. The modern presidency demands so much of one individual — decisions of immense complexity, consequence and difficulty — that the candidate’s character must be thoroughly examined. The exploratory process is often unpleasant for candidates, especially when it is stimulated or exploited by their opponents. But it is essential for voters. The probing and investigating is a chance to examine all the ups and downs of a career, the critical moments and life experiences that might foretell how a president will make decisions.  This is why, as we said months ago, Mitt Romney’s tax returns are important. He has described himself as a successful capitalist who took risks and created wealth, a laudable credential. Voters would benefit by seeing and evaluating the details of that story, including through his tax records.
 
Don't complain – explain
Toledo Blade // Editorial
There are more important issues for the presidential contenders to address than what Republican nominee Mitt Romney did at Bain Capital more than a decade ago or how much money he has made since then. If Mr. Romney truly wants to shift the debate to other matters, as he says, he can defuse the questions about his leadership of the private-equity firm he founded and about his personal wealth by addressing them forthrightly rather than continue to talk around them.
 
Mitt Romney's failing defensive strategy
Denver Post // Editorial
But Romney appears unmoved by those who suggest voters can glean a lot about a candidate from their returns. Which leads us — and others — to wonder why. "The costs of not releasing the returns are clear," conservative columnist George Will told ABC on Sunday. "Therefore, he must have calculated that there are higher costs in releasing them." In an editorial in April, we wrote: "For Romney to release only two years of returns would be laughable. If that is the case, voters and opponents would not be out of line to ask the man who has essentially been running for president for the last six years what he's got to hide." And on cue, an Obama attack ad released Tuesday did just that.
 
Taxing for Romney
Akron Beacon Journal // Editorial
Part of the fallout from this episode have been the renewed calls for Romney to release a larger set of his income taxes. So far, he has shared his 2010 return, with 2011 on its way. He argues that should be sufficient for gaining an understanding of his finances. Not really. Again, questions deserving answers have yet to be addressed. What Romney has released, along with some news accounts, point to large holdings overseas. To avoid taxes? How much? The campaign insists that all has been done legally. Yes, tax avoidance is a fact of financial life. Yet Romney has based his candidacy on his business acumen. Ohioans and others, weighing whether he should be president, deserve a fuller portrait of his finances.
 
Unearthing Romney's booty
Colorado Springs Independent // Jim Hightower
What a blessing to have Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for president! It's a blessing because he is a living portrait of Mr. Wall Street Man, and, as his candidacy unfolds, it's allowing us commoners to get a peek into how the privileged few rig the rules for their own gain — at our expense. Obviously. Romney is, of course, a full-fledged initiate in the Uppermost One-Tenth of the 1-Percenters Club, with at least a quarter-billion dollars stashed away, and apparently much more that he's trying to hide from voters. It's not his wealth, however, that's troubling — we've had many rich politicians who have become admirable servants of the common good. Rather, it's how Romney got his and where he's put it.
 
Memo to Romney: Release you tax returns
Nashua Telegraph // Editorial
As the national drumbeat builds for Mitt Romney to release additional tax returns, we can’t help but wonder if he is the only person on the planet who doesn’t know how his petulant game of keep-away is going to end. Surely, everyone knows he is going to release more of his tax filings; it’s just a matter of when, not if. But should we be proven wrong, we hope the Republican nominee-in-waiting is prepared to answer persistent questions about his peculiar pigheadedness – and not just from Democrats and the media – right up until Election Day.
 
Personal finances
Watertown Daily Times // Editorial
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would do well to release more tax returns than he has done so far. Candidates do not have to make public their tax records. Mr. Romney has made available his 2010 and 2011 tax returns, and has said that is sufficient. Mr. Romney said he is following the precedent of the last Republican presidential nominee, Arizona Sen. John McCain, who released two years of his tax returns. The problem is that both Democrats and some Republicans are calling upon Mr. Romney to disclose more records about his business career and personal wealth. By not doing so, he invites criticism that he is hiding something or, at the least, is less than open about his personal finances.
 
Mitt Romney’s income tax returns: lies, half-truths and contradictions
Houston Chronicle // Joe Garofoli
Even some of Mitt Romney’s fellow Republicans are telling him to release his tax returns. They’re saying that refusing to do that only makes it look like you’re hiding something, dude. It’s not like voters don’t know that Mitt’s rich. They do — and largely, they don’t care, according to this recent Gallup Poll.  (If you want to see 12 years of President Obama and Veep Biden’s returns online, go here.)  It’s already known that Mitt stashes some cash in overseas tax havens. He’s already given 23 years worth of tax returns to Sen. John McCain when he was being vetted for veep in 2008. McCain didn’t turn Mitt over to the IRS (but he did pick Sarah Palin over him). What could be so bad?
 
Message to Mitt: When You're In A Deep Hole, Stop Digging
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal // Carol Morgan
Every GOP old guard and even some new vanguard Conservatives are clamoring for Romney’s pre-2010 tax returns. All pose the question: What could be in those tax returns that Romney is so afraid to disclose? As George Will and many others have noted, there must be something truly damaging in those returns to continue to endure the criticism and scrutiny. His unwillingness to reveal his returns have kept the matter of his departure date from Bain Capital open to examination. Those two items are a death knell to his campaign.  Mr. Romney doesn’t realize what a vivid imagination the American Public (and the media) possesses. When he leaves citizenry and journalists to speculate on what’s in his tax returns, instead of what’s really there, he’s opening himself up to innuendo and rumors.
 
Chan Lowe: Romney, tax returns and Bain
Sun Sentinel // Chan Lowe
You don’t have to be a behavioral psychologist to detect the frisson of fear running down the collective conservative spine as Mitt Romney flounders, evades and stiff-arms over the details of his financial past. The fact that even right-wing stalwarts like William Kristol and George Will are calling for the hapless Romney to parry Obama's attack and release his tax returns indicates that the candidate’s stonewalling position has become untenable. Surely there can’t be anything so politically damaging in those documents that it’s considered less harmful to drag this drama out until Election Day.
 
Romney should release the tax returns
South Carolina’s The Herald // Editorial
Even fellow Republicans are urging Mitt Romney to release more tax returns. The issue might have become such a potent weapon for his opponents that he has little choice but to do so. Romney has adamently refused to release more than two years of tax returns – his 2010 returns and, when complete, those from 2011. But Barack Obama, who already has released 12 years of returns, is asking, in effect, what does Romney have to hide in refusing to make public more of his financial past?
 
What's in Mitt's taxes?
Salt Lake Tribune // Editorial
Mitt Romney has captured the Republican presidential nomination in all but name, and is running strong in the polls in his quest to become the next president of the United States. He has done so, largely, on his promise and his promises of doing a better job of managing the American economy than has the incumbent. Thus his refusal to release more than one or two years of his tax returns, along with the continuing confusion of when he really gave up control of the Bain Capital investment firm, strikes even many Republicans as troubling. In recent days, such conservative stalwarts as columnist George Will and the editors of The National Review have been among those tearing their hair over the What-does-he-have-to-hide? message that was being sent by Romney’s stonewalling.
 
Citizens have right to see Mitt Romney's tax returns
MassLive // Editorial
Why won’t Mitt Romney release his tax returns? Is it because he doesn’t have them? No, that’s not it. In 2008, when U.S. Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign was vetting Romney as a possible vice presidential pick, the former Massachusetts governor provided tax returns dating back to 1985. Is it because he just doesn’t feel like it? That was Romney’s (unstated) reason for keeping his tax returns private in 2002 when he was running for governor of the Bay State. Ain’t gonna happen, he effectively said back then. And, it didn’t hurt him, either. Is it because he’s got something to hide? That’s the conclusion that many – including an increasing number of Republicans and conservatives – have been reaching as the onetime venture capitalist continues to resist calls for him to release additional information about his personal finances.