Posted on 08/03/2012 7:28:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Edited on 08/03/2012 7:51:34 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
After Mitt Romney told Harry Reid to "put up or shut up" about allegations of income-tax evasion, Reid chose this morning to ... do neither. Instead, Reid released a statement late yesterday essentially tripling down on his evidence-free accusations, and again insisted that Romney had to prove himself innocent:
As I said before, I was told by an extremely credible source that Romney has not paid taxes for ten years. People who make as much money as Mitt Romney have many tricks at their disposal to avoid paying taxes. We already know that Romney has exploited many of these loopholes, stashing his money in secret, overseas accounts in places like Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.
Last weekend, Governor Romney promised that he would check his tax returns and let the American people know whether he ever paid a rate lower than 13.9 percent. One day later, his campaign raced to say he had no intention of putting out any further information.
When it comes to answering the legitimate questions the American people have about whether he avoided paying his fair share in taxes or why he opened a Swiss bank account, Romney has shut up. But as a presidential candidate, it’s his obligation to put up, and release several years’ worth of tax returns just like nominees of both parties have done for decades.
It’s clear Romney is hiding something, and the American people deserve to know what it is. Whatever Romney’s hiding probably speaks volumes about how he would approach issues that directly impact middle-class families, like tax reform and the economy. When you are running for president, you should be an open book.
I understand Romney is concerned that many people, Democrats and Republicans, have been calling on him to release his tax returns. He has so far refused. There is only one thing he can do to clear this up, and that’s release his tax returns.
Note, please, that we seem to be back to one source for this information — “an extremely credible source,” but Reid did not use a plural. Earlier in the week, Reid claimed to have “a number of sources,” and that “the word is out.” So which is it? One extremely credible source from Bain who somehow got to look at Romney’s personal taxes for a ten-year period even though no one would have access to that except the Romneys, their accountant, and the IRS? Or a number of sources who say “the word is out”? Reid’s sounding more and more like Joe McCarthy every day.
Reid, who also refuses to release his own tax returns, isn’t just a hypocrite and a slanderer. He’s also a political idiot. Until these attacks, Romney was on the defensive over his tax returns. Now Romney can paint his decision to keep them private as a principled stand against unscrupulous opponents. Reid has handed the high ground to Romney in this fight with his scurrilous lies. Reid has all but ruined Obama’s strategy of making Romney look secretive and weird.
Andrew Malcolm wants to probe Reid’s brain, too:
Have you heard about a mysterious phone call from one of Happy Harry Reid’s political cronies from the mortifying days in 1974 when Paul Laxalt waxed him for the Nevada Senate seat that changed the course of Reid’s life forever?
It’s a pretty shocking story, and one that the powerful Democrat has understandably never explained through all these years. It’s haunted him though, through those early devastating political losses for the Senate and the Las Vegas mayor’s office, the defeats that turned him into the bitter, cynical political mumbler he’s become at age 72.
This troubling tale has haunted Harry Reid through the shadowy years he ran the Nevada Gaming Commission, through his public embarrassment over the Los Angeles Times investigation into his son and son-in-law’s Washington lobbying activities,the ethics investigation into the free tickets Reid happily accepted to boxing matches and the successful land development deal that ended up netting Reid $1 million when he sold it, in an amazing coincidence, to a friend and it became a shopping center.
And through all these years, Harry Reid has never bothered to deny that awful early story. Just as he’s never denied any early involvement with left-wing South American political parties and an unsuccessful 1964 bid to become a Goldwater Girl.
I remember that LA Times investigation well. It explained at least in part how Reid got to be so wealthy while working in public office. Maybe we can start asking Reid about that, because the LA Times actually did have a number of credible sources, as well as documentation from the public record.
Is Reid’s source Timothy Geithner?
That’s the ticket—by now someone’s probably taught Geithner how to read a balance sheet. But does he know how to read an IRS return?
“People who make as much money as Mitt Romney have many tricks at their disposal to avoid paying taxes.”
Gazillionaire Stinky Reid oughta know. What a despicable, ugly little troll.
I’m not voting for Romney, but I feel sure his accountants would not violate IRS law when doing Romney’s tax returns. Most all people take every deduction they can and move their money in accordance with IRS law to pay the least they can. If his accountants found a legal way for him not to pay any taxes, so be it.
Is it Jesus?
An individual’s tax information is protected by privacy laws.
If the information about Romney is true, Harry Reid and his “source” would be breaking the law by having the information and by diseminating it.
If the information is not true they open themselves up for a libel suit.
And Harry Reid’s conduct is easily cause for congressional censure.
Then Spill it Dingy. I want to know what your narc has to say. IF you want to say something stop being a p—— and do it.
Romney submitted at least 10 years of tax returns to the McCain campaign for VP vetting. Some staffer/consultant grudge holder is shooting his/her mouth off.
Reid Sources = Obama White House!! Book it.
Listening to Rush - He believes Harry Reid is doing for Mitt Romney exactly what Rahm Emmanuel did for Chick-Fil-A.
So what’s the point Harry? Timmyy Geithner was appointed Treasury Secretary and he didn’t pay his taxes...how many people working in the Obama admin are behind or failed in paying their federal taxes?
“... today, federal workers owe taxpayers $1B+ in unpaid taxes – 100,000 workers, chronic tax cheaters. One hundred thousand workers with unpaid taxes remains the consistent number each year....”
Bring it on Harry!!!We the People want a big, open discussion exactly about WHICH 100000 Federal employees aren’t paying taxes...and how many of them are sitting CongressCritters and their staffs....lets rumble!!!!!!
It reads that Reid is NOT accusing Romney of tax fraud, hence he is not calling on the IRS to investigate Romney.
What if this really is an instance of, say for the sake of argument, that Romney did not take a salary for the last ten years. What if Romney lived off of tax-sheltered investment income that was adjusted using charitable giving deductions and reinvestment deductions?
What if Romney was able to legally reduce his tax obligation to zero, just like GE?
In that case, everything that Reid is saying is true, albeit Reid is being deceitful via innuendo. Reid is trying to portray Romney as being too rich to be president, even though Democrats like John Kerry and John Kennedy were NOT too rich to be president.
If Reid pursues this, then the focus must turn to how Reid came into possession of this information. It is not covered by whistle-blower statutes, because there was no wrong-doing. This would be more like Ken Bacon illegally accessing Linda Tripp's employment application, or when Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Helen Jones-Kelley illegally searched Joe Wurzelbacher's records.
-PJ
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