What is hidden in Romney's gas returns??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Obama has set a precedent by refusing to release his college records. If he is allowed to hide information that is commonly released by candidates, then I think he will have a hard time not looking hypocritical in this case.

There should be a standard list of documents, which everyone has to release and if they don't, they get disqualified.

Seriously, what do grades earned by a 50 year old man when he was 19-20-21-22 years old have to do with running for president? How can you compare that to how he made his money and paid taxes as an adult from the past 5 years??? So the decisions one made at age 19-21 should be given the same weight as those in your 40's and 50's. (And actually, your grades don't necessarily reflect decisions YOU made. But your tax returns are about your decisions.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Obama has set a precedent by refusing to release his college records. If he is allowed to hide information that is commonly released by candidates, then I think he will have a hard time not looking hypocritical in this case.

There should be a standard list of documents, which everyone has to release and if they don't, they get disqualified.

Seriously, what do grades earned by a 50 year old man when he was 19-20-21-22 years old have to do with running for president? How can you compare that to how he made his money and paid taxes as an adult from the past 5 years??? So the decisions one made at age 19-21 should be given the same weight as those in your 40's and 50's. (And actually, your grades don't necessarily reflect decisions YOU made. But your tax returns are about your decisions.)

I'm saying that college transcripts are usually released. All candidates should release the same information. If one gets away with it, others can too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He's released a tax return. How many years of tax returns should candidates release?

He needs to release one more year, and I will explain why.

A year ago, when he was running for the nomination, he steadfastly refused to turn over 2009. He released 2010 and and estimate for 2011 (his 2011 taxes aren't done yet, for perfectly valid reasons).

So any sane person has to ask, why was he so adamant in refusing to turn over 2009? At the time, it would have only been 2 years of returns. And he fought and fought it. You only fight something like that when there is a reason.

Maybe it's because (as this article states) 2009 includes carried interest from his Bain years, and so dodging his 2009 return prevents the public from seeing this. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/avantgo/2017075534.html

Maybe it's because of the UBS tax evasion case. In 2009, UBS was investigated for offering accounts to US citizens in order to dodge taxes. During this time I am sure a lot of investors dumped the accounts, because by 2010 the government forced UBS to cough up the names of account holders.

And then there are the Cayman accounts.

There's also the possibility that he didn't pay taxes at all in 2009 b/c of losses in 2008. Which would be totally legitimate -- moreso than the other scenarios you're describing. But it still looks bad.

[Anonymous]

I am not interested in obamas college records and do not have any interest in it.
I do want to see romneys tax records. That is important to me
If I do not get to see it, then I have no interest in voting for him

[Anonymous]

Both Obamas refuses to release their anti american college dissertations

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both Obamas refuses to release their anti american college dissertations

Let me guess- you didn't go to college, did you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Clearly they matter.

Explain why they matter.

Congress has a greater responsibility for legislating taxes than the President does. How can you argue that the President must release multiple years (how many?) of tax returns when there's no outcry for the same from Congress?

I think job performance reports for the past several years prior to running for office would be much more relevant. I'd argue that one's personal tax return is less useful in indicating how well one might help manage the finances of a country than job reports on how well one manage a business, or a department's budget. Even large personal wealth like our candidates have tends to be dwarfed by the amount of money they had influence over in previous positions.

"Clearly they matter." Is not an argument. What information is it critical for us as voters to know that we can only get from candidates tax returns? It's the same issue as with college transcripts. It doesn't matter if we'd like to see them. If they don't offer any information that is critical for us, as voters, to know, then it's none of our business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both Obamas refuses to release their anti american college dissertations

Can you direct me to Romney's college dissertation?

Michelle Obama's is at
http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_1-251.pdf, http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_26-501.pdf, http://www.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_51-751.pdf, and http://dyn.politico.com/pdf/080222_MOPrincetonThesis_76-981.pdf.
It is a study of the attitudes of Black Princeton students and alumni, not an opinion piece. I scanned through and saw nothing un-American, unless speaking as a Black person is un-American.

I graduated Columbia, like BO but earlier, and recall no senior thesis requirement. You can see a couple of discussions of the supposed thesis at
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/columbiathesis.asp and http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/oct/26/blog-posting/obamas-columbia-thesis-all-fiction-dreamed-blogger/.

[Anonymous]

23:46 - silly question from you "why would the IRS accept that?"
They only enforce the tax laws written by congress and signed into law.
And, it is possible to pay no taxes .
Wrong, in my opinion, and embarrassing/disqualifying for Romney.

[Anonymous]

Mitt has a right not to make his returns public and I have a right not to vote for him. My guess is that a major motivation is that letting the general population see such returns will make it impossible to keep the Bush tax cuts in place for top incomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Clearly they matter.

Explain why they matter.

Congress has a greater responsibility for legislating taxes than the President does. How can you argue that the President must release multiple years (how many?) of tax returns when there's no outcry for the same from Congress?

I think job performance reports for the past several years prior to running for office would be much more relevant. I'd argue that one's personal tax return is less useful in indicating how well one might help manage the finances of a country than job reports on how well one manage a business, or a department's budget. Even large personal wealth like our candidates have tends to be dwarfed by the amount of money they had influence over in previous positions.

"Clearly they matter." Is not an argument. What information is it critical for us as voters to know that we can only get from candidates tax returns? It's the same issue as with college transcripts. It doesn't matter if we'd like to see them. If they don't offer any information that is critical for us, as voters, to know, then it's none of our business.

:Face palm:

Cinflicts of interest and violations of the law. Is this not obvious?

[Anonymous]

I am surprised how many are defending his right to not disclose. To me this is not about whether he has to or not.
He has been asked and others have done so, many voters would like it for the peace of mnd it gives them.

His integrity cannot be what we would like. Just what is he afraid of?
We all know he is not poor.

[Anonymous]

I love how these people who were screaming about Charlie Rangel last year have completely forgotten why tax returns matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We all know he is not poor.

But very few of "us" realize how much the tax code has contributed to his wealth.

I guarantee he paid $0 in taxes in 2009. And much less than 15% in the years prior.

That is what this is ALL about.

[Anonymous]

Don't be talking about my thesis