WHOA: "Tipping Point? National Review, Rick Perry Call On Romney To Release Tax Returns"

[WilliamPitt]

Tipping Point? National Review, Rick Perry Call On Romney To Release Tax Returns
By Evan McMorris-Santoro
TPM

One of the most venerated institutions in the conservative establishment has joined the chorus calling on Mitt Romney to release more of his tax returns.

In an editorial posted late Tuesday, the editors of the National Review said it’s time for Romney to release his tax returns, and condemned the presumptive nominee for making excuses:

The Romney campaign says he has released as many returns as candidate John Kerry did in 2004, and cites Teresa Heinz Kerry’s refusal to release any of her tax returns. Neither is an apt comparison. John Kerry actually released returns from 1999 through 2003, and also released tax returns during his Senate runs. As for Teresa Heinz, Romney isn’t the wealthy spouse of a candidate, but the candidate himself. In 2008, John McCain released two years of returns, but he had been filling out financial disclosure forms for decades as a senator. Romney protests that he is not legally obliged to release any tax returns. Of course not. He is no longer in the realm of the private sector, though, where he can comply with the letter of the law with the Securities and Exchange Commission and leave it at that. Perceptions matter.

The rest: http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/national-review-romney-tax-returns.php?ref=fpa

P.S. It may just be me, but Talking Points Memo has been absolutely ruling my mind of late. Well, done, TPM.

[DCBob]

1. Interesting.. wonder whats going on here?

Normally Repulbicans circle the wagons in a situation like this.

[Marr]

3. The convention hasn't happened yet. Maybe he's hoping

Romney can be forced to withdraw, and the remaining stooges can slug it out at the convention.

[DCBob]

7. That thought came to mind..

but that would be quite an extreme development. I also dont see Rmoney going down easily... he has too much invested and he thinks he is owed this. We shall see how this plays out.

[alfredo]

26. If that is the case, will his Veep choice be the candidate?

If that is the case, is that why it is happening now?

[Major Nikon]

15. There simply is no defense

There are only a few Republican apologists dumb enough to make excuses for Rmoney. How do you defend that?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. Hope that America is in the mood for another Texas Governor who's even dumber than Bush.

[Ikonoklast]

30. Perry DESPISES Romney for making him look like a fool during the debates.

Wealthy scion of vaunted political family whose entire life has been that of privilege vs. the son of a dry land cotton farmer.

Perry stuck the knife in Romney at the first opportunity.

He'll start twisting it soon, mark my words.

[hifiguy]

2. Rick for christ's sake Perry??

The man is dumber than a bowling shoe and even he can figure out what a clusterfk this is?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

8. Bowling shoes get sprayed with disinfectants every day

The spray acts like an inhalant for bowling shoes, and anyone doing inhalants on a daily basis is at risk for being as dumb as Perry. Cut the bowling shoes some slack next time.

[JoePhilly]

4. Rick said ... "Romney needs to do three things... (1) Release his tax returns, (2) Let Texas

secede from the Union, and (3) umm, well, umm, no, no, don't tell me .... umm ...

[orpupilofnature57]

5. It reminds me of Salem in the 1600's

Innocent by accusation , like rats from a sinking ship . Big ploy the last weak ,Friends till the end ,and this is the end ,that's what scares me .

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

6. With even his own party all over his ass about this, there must really be something

extraordinarily embarrassing or damaging in those returns if Romney continues to refuse to make them public.

[orpupilofnature57]

9. Correlations made from common sense

Usually Consultants, Experts and Advisor's can pull extraordinary reasons out of their ass.

[sad sally]

10. Perhaps one of the embarrassments in releasing his 2003 thru 2009 tax returns might be that the

Last edited Tue Jul 17, 2012, 10:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Swiss bank accounts he had from 2003 to 2009. Were they shut down under the IRS amnesty program?

They were closed in the middle of the amnesty that the IRS had declared for owners of previously unreported Swiss accounts. The amnesty terms said if tax evaders came clean, they wouldn't face criminal prosecution for not reporting it in previous years; which was illegal and most tax cheats weren't paying taxes on that stashed money.

Was this shutdown of Romney's secret tax haven Swiss account part of a US government amnesty program? Was the "I'm one of you, I'm middle class" Romney a government welfare tax cheat? Wouldn't that cause some redfaces?

[malaise]

16. Wow I hadn't thought about that

That would be very, very interesting!

Here's a link with the same thought
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/07/17/romney_s_tax_returns_is_the_2009_swiss_bank_account_amnesty_what_he_doesn_t_want_us_to_see_.html
<snip>

Did Mitt Romney Take the 2009 Swiss Bank Account Amnesty


Something like this:

Wealthy U.S. taxpayers, concerned about an Internal Revenue Service crackdown on the use of secret overseas bank accounts as tax havens, are rushing to meet a Thursday deadline to disclose those accounts or face possible criminal prosecution. The concern was triggered this summer when Switzerland's largest bank, caught up in an international tax evasion dispute, said it would disclose the names of more than 4,000 of its U.S. account holders.

The decision shattered a long-held belief that Swiss banks would guard the identities of its American customers as carefully as they did their money, and it raised concern that other international tax havens might be next. Under an amnesty program, the IRS is allowing taxpayers to avoid prosecution for having failed to report their overseas accounts. As a result, tax attorneys across the nation have been besieged by wealthy clients who are lining up to apply even though they will still face big financial penalties.

Romney might well have thought in 2007 and 2008 that there was nothing to fear about a non-disclosed offshore account he'd set up years earlier precisely because it wasn't disclosed. But then came the settlement and the rush of non-disclosers to apply for the amnesty. Failing to apply for the amnesty and then getting charged by the IRS would have been both financially and politically disastrous. So amnesty it was. But even though the amnesty would eliminate any legal or financial liability for past acts, it would hardly eliminate political liability.

[Scurrilous]

11. K & R

[Gregorian]

12. Who is going to be the GOP candidate?

This is fun.

[orpupilofnature57]

14. Blank , with Jeb as VP

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. ...

[bleever]

13. Josh Marshall has had as good a week as Mitt has had a bad one.

TPM has indeed been rocking.


ed: typo

[lindysalsagal]

17. Poor, poor Mittens. Always picking on him.

[Curmudgeoness]

19. All his buddies are screaming for the release of the tax returns

until they are released.....and then they will all be saying "why the hell did you release THOSE???"

Watch what you wish for, fellas.

[Puzzler]

20. They know how toxic this issue is...

... if Romney's going to fall, they need him to do it now.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

25. What's funny is seeing the Right Wingers claiming cheating on taxes is Patriotic.

[BamBamBane]

21. Willard is even skankier that the rest of the Republicans

That's skanky.

[bighughdiehl]

22. This is really bizarre....

Some possibilities:

1. The Repukes are letting all this Bain and tax shit play out now so that
swing idiots and the media will just forget in a month or two.
2. The evangelical element is making a play to get rid of Mormon boy.
3. The repukes have suddenly realized that by running a walking stereotype
of a clueless corporate crook, they have overplayed their hand just a tad.

yeah, normally they circle the wagons, as they did with Bush-Cheney who could do no
wrong. WTF is going on here?

[Avalux]

27. Not that bizarre, and I think it's personal with Perry.

He can't stand Romney, evidenced by their interactions during the debates. And I don't think Perry cares much what the rest of the GOP thinks.

[madinmaryland]

31. Does anyone in the Repuke party like Rmoney??

Maybe the .0001%'ers do, but that is about it.

[JDPriestly]

28. The problem for Teresa Heinz-Kerry was that she was a beneficiary of a trust

set up by her first husband. She was not the only beneficiary. As I recall at least one of the other beneficiaries (her sons, I think) did not agree to make the information public.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/16/politics/campaign/16teresa.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&position=

There more family gossip if you Google her name, tax returns and 2004 +++.

It really isn't relevant, but the Heinz family was very divided and kept their business private.

[Honeycombe8]

29. Perry smells blood. This means Perry is thinking of a 2016 run. Ooooooh. This is interesting. nt