Release 'em already Mitt

It's about time for GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney to release his damn tax returns.  Stop the bull, man up, and get it over with. 

It's not like this is the first time the guy's run for office or the first time the issue has been raised.  His latest response is that he released 2010 and will release 2011 when it's completed and no more.  He claims that the Democrats and President Barack Obama will just pick his tax returns apart and make an issue of them.  Yeah, duh?  That's called POLITICS. 

Romney's a rich guy... we know that

If there's nothing out of the ordinary in the tax returns, then the American people will say what we all already know:  Romney's a rich guy, a very rich guy. Obama and company will then be forced by the American people to move on to something else or risk losing total control of the campaign narrative.

Romney's problem is much deeper than being a rich guy.  We elect rich guys to office.  President Franklin Roosevelt, President John Kennedy, Senator Ted Kennedy in the past and Senator Mark Warner, Congressman Darryl Issa, Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senator Jay Rockefeller in the present, just to name a few.

Romney is afraid of something in those returns becoming public

Romney has made a calculated decision not to release his taxes and endure the complaints of lack of transparency, because whatever those tax returns show are a lot more damaging.  Since Romney won't tell us, Buzz has suggested we should put together a Top Ten list of why he's protecting those tax returns like a mother bear protects her cub.

Remember, it was Romney's dad George Romney who set a modern day standard by releasing 12 years of tax returns when he ran for President in 1968.  The former head of American Motors said that one year's returns could be a "fluke" made to look better for political reasons.

We tried for ten, but only came up with nine. Here they are:

Top Nine Reasons why Mitt Romney won't release more than two years of tax returns

9.  He's played fancy and loose with some overseas accounts.

8.  His effective tax rate is usually lower than the 14 or 15 percent he's paid over the past two years.

7.  He has made statements that are easily contradicted by the returns.

6.  Some years, because of "loses," he paid no income tax at all.

5.  He gave a heck of a lot more than the standard 10 percent tithe to the Mormon Church.


4.  He violated tax laws or IRS regulations.

3.  His 2000, 2001, and 2002 returns show that he was still collecting a management salary from Bain.

2.  Some of his business or charitable deductions just won't fly politically.

1.  There is just something (not illegal) in there that can't be explained politically.

In 2008, Romney gave the John McCain campaign 23 years of returns while they vetted him for the VP slot.  McCain chose Sarah Palin.  Maybe McCain's decision had a little more to do with what he found than just a dislike of Romney personally.