Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'

[Smid]

If anything, Reid is worse, since he holds a public position of authority.

So do dozens of Republican governors, senators and congressmen who asked for Obama'sd birth certificate.

Well I'd include them in that too, but it's no defence for Reid. The lot of them, they're all morons.

[Brittain33]

If anything, Reid is worse, since he holds a public position of authority.

So do dozens of Republican governors, senators and congressmen who asked for Obama'sd birth certificate.

Well I'd include them in that too, but it's no defence for Reid. The lot of them, they're all morons.

Except that Obama's birth was reported in the papers, he'd written his biography about being born in the U.S., so accusations about the birth certificate assumed Obama was a liar and was also suspect because of his race and name.

Reid's playing dirty politics here but he can do so because, unlike Obama's birth, Romney's finances and taxes are a black box and Romney has stonewalled all requests for info.

You wouldn't compare the fact of someone's birth in a certain place, which is easy to verify without a birth certificate, to someone's tax rate, which is obscure and which Romney is the first candidate in a while to hide something on, would you?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I now consider Reid to be no better than the morons who clamour for Obama's birth certificate. It's exactly the same argument of "here's a ridiculous statement, now prove it to be untrue." If anything, Reid is worse, since he holds a public position of authority.

And even worse then that because he is a complete hypocrit on the issue of financial disclosure. Damn I wish we had bagged this SOB in 2010.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It's not true, and there will be no way of verifying whether or not it is.

Then how do you know it's not true?

Because if 1) He paid literally "no" taxes, he would be in jail and 2) I have a hard time believing he found a way to reduce his tax burden to such a low amount, more or less zero, even with clever mastery of the tax code and all the intricacies within it.

Ergo, you don't know

Do you really want to apply that standard? The oldest line of defense for believing in a flat earth, denying the moon landings occured, or doubting evolution and OMG Climate Change. "If I didn't see it, then it didn't happen." Again, do you really want to use that standard?

You and Hagrid are completely mischaracterizing what I said. I said you don't know whether he paid any taxes because he hasn't released his tax returns. That's a fact. Should I just trust that Romney paid taxes because he says so while he continues to hide his returns. He has something to hide, that much is certain. And don't give me the crap about it being impossible to not pay any taxes. This guys have secret overseas bank accounts for pete's sake!

If Romney has "secret" bank accounts, that would not appear on his tax return, and Mittens would be guilty of criminal tax evasion if the suggestion is that the income he earned was hidden by virtue of parking that income in a foreign bank account. And just what income would that be that he is hiding?  I mean his income was made from Bain deals, and the Bain fee charged to investors plus presumably some participation in after fee profits to the extent made. The investors paid the fee, and the profits earned and distributed.  Where did that money go?  I mean, if you are going to be a tax criminal, you don't want to leave little gaps like that. That makes you a dumb tax criminal, and dumb criminals of the white collar variety tend to be bagged and incarcerated.

These accounts may not have been "secret", but they were certainly secretive since he hid his money overseas. And I never said he did anything criminal, just something very, very damaging that might cost him the election.

This may also be the problem in the returns, but I guess we'll never know:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/31/opinion/the-mysteries-of-mitt-romneys-financial-records.html?_r=1

The use of the terms "secretive"  and "hid" imply criminal behavior in this context, unless you qualify them as not so at the time.

[Brittain33]

I now consider Reid to be no better than the morons who clamour for Obama's birth certificate. It's exactly the same argument of "here's a ridiculous statement, now prove it to be untrue." If anything, Reid is worse, since he holds a public position of authority.

And even worse then that because he is a complete hypocrit on the issue of financial disclosure. Damn I wish we had bagged this SOB in 2010.

GOP primary voters loved freedom and the Constitution too much to nominate an impure candidate.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I now consider Reid to be no better than the morons who clamour for Obama's birth certificate. It's exactly the same argument of "here's a ridiculous statement, now prove it to be untrue." If anything, Reid is worse, since he holds a public position of authority.

And even worse then that because he is a complete hypocrit on the issue of financial disclosure. Damn I wish we had bagged this SOB in 2010.

GOP primary voters loved freedom and the Constitution too much to nominate an impure candidate.

If the primary voters had a chance to get to know Angle, they wouldn't have nominated her. She now polls around 10% in primary polls for races she considered entering. The leading candidate collapsed, Tarkanian never got going really and Angle was there on the seen to reap the benefits with her excentricities being unknown to much of the primary electorate.

[Torie]

You do all know that you must disclose all foreign accounts on your 1040 tax return form don't you?  Do any of you file tax returns?

[Brittain33]

Romney is now responding to Reid by saying he paid lots of taxes.

The word that's missing is "income."

Romney has surely paid a lot of property taxes on his estates in New Hampshire and on the California coast.

[Torie]

Romney is now responding to Reid by saying he paid lots of taxes.

The word that's missing is "income."

Romney has surely paid a lot of property taxes on his estates in New Hampshire and on the California coast.

Do you actually think Mittens deliberately avoided the use of the word "income," for the reason that you imply?  Or are you just trying to get a rise out of the Pubs around here for kicks? 

For reasons I have mentioned before, it would be almost impossible for Mittens not to have paid income taxes. Do I need to repeat them again for you?

[AmericanNation]

Romney is now responding to Reid by saying he paid lots of taxes.

The word that's missing is "income."

Romney has surely paid a lot of property taxes on his estates in New Hampshire and on the California coast.

...It's hard to imagine why someone would hesitate to put detailed and complicated documents in front of such a well behaved and intelligent mob.  

Did he have any income to pay income tax on?  man o man.    

[Lief 🗽]

CNN's Dana Bash:

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[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

A rube goldberg machine of unnamed sources. lol

[Likely Voter]

Any day that Romney has to defend not releasing his returns and avow that he isn't a tax cheat is a day he loses and only reinforces the perception of him being an elitist 1%er.  So the damage that would be done if he released more must be pretty bad for them to continue to endure this.

Perhaps they think that once they announce their VP and have their convention this will all go away and not be brought up in September and October. But that is some serious wishful thinking.

[Landslide Lyndon]

A rube goldberg machine of unnamed sources. lol

Just like Watergate.

[stegosaurus]

Quick question for those who believe in the IRS: If the IRS failed to properly collect taxes from a multi-millionaire for over a decade while bringing the hammer down on countless middle class people for petty sums of money, what does that say about their competence and value to society?

Of course, this is a snarky rhetorical question, because there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Romney paid no income taxes for over a decade. It's ludacris for a full-grown man like Harry Reid to be acting like this.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This is the same reason why there would have never been a Steve Jobs or Welch Presidency. There is simply no way a successfully business man can withstand the dogs of ignorant populism released by desperate insider politicians.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Considering that businessmen tend to make lousy politicians, is that actually a bad thing?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Considering that businessmen tend to make lousy politicians, is that actually a bad thing?

Indeed. And some of the best presidents (Lincoln, Truman) were lousy businessmen.

[Lief 🗽]

Most of our "businessmen" presidents turned out to be horrible failures (Hoover, Carter, Harding), and as LL points out, most of our presidents who were bad at business (Lincoln, Truman) turned out to be pretty good.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Harding's problem had to do with his own personal failings and his unfortunate luck of dying in office before he could do anything to rectify the situation, not his business record. Lincoln was a successfull attorney who represented corporations like the railroads, akin to representing big oil today, and made a good amount doing it. He would probably be ripped apart for that, today.

[mondale84]

Quick question for those who believe in the IRS: If the IRS failed to properly collect taxes from a multi-millionaire for over a decade while bringing the hammer down on countless middle class people for petty sums of money, what does that say about their competence and value to society?

Of course, this is a snarky rhetorical question, because there isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Romney paid no income taxes for over a decade. It's ludacris for a full-grown man like Harry Reid to be acting like this.

This isn't an argument about the IRS, this is an argument about the serial deception perpetrated by Mitt Romney.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Romney isn't deceiving anyone in this. He is trying to prevent further deception by the Obama opposition research team, by not providing them with the instrument for such.

[opebo]

Quick question for those who believe in the IRS: If the IRS failed to properly collect taxes from a multi-millionaire for over a decade while bringing the hammer down on countless middle class people for petty sums of money, what does that say about their competence and value to society?

My friend, you're blaming the maid because your frat-brothers made a mess in the house.  The society is filthy - any society that would allow such inequality can only be described as filthy - and the IRS, while in theory a step in the right direction, in effect really doesn't change a thing.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

This is the same reason why there would have never been a Steve Jobs or Welch Presidency. There is simply no way a successfully business man can withstand the dogs of ignorant populism released by desperate insider politicians.

Isn't that just another way of saying that the American public would never approve of large corporations if they knew how they actually worked?

[Sbane]

A rube goldberg machine of unnamed sources. lol

Romney should just release his tax returns to put these people in their place. Or perhaps there is something there..... Since I strongly oppose all these little loopholes in the tax code which helps the rich and connected pay less taxes, I am enjoying watching Romney squirm.

And just to make clear I don't think there is anything illegal in there. I just don't think he paid his fair share (fairness not being synonymous with legality). When a person making just 60-80k realizes he is paying the same rate as Romney......