I have always assumed that Romney’s tax statements over the past 10 years would show a rich financially astute businessman who took advantage of every legal means of reducing his taxes.  I wouldn’t be happy that he probably paid a lower tax rate than I do but it would be in keeping with super wealthy individuals who hire tax attorneys to save them money on taxes.

I also initially accepted that he did not want to release any more than two years worth of taxes because he likes his privacy. (Perhaps not a good thing for a presidential hopeful to desire so badly).  However, since his tax returns have become an issue in the campaign, rightly or wrongly, someone who wants to be president and who has done nothing wrong should accept he has to give up some privacy and just release his last 10 years of returns.  This would end the accusations that he paid no taxes or speculation he has done things that were illegal.  But Romney seems determined to stand his ground and not release his tax returns.  Why?  I have listed all the reasons I can think of why he would rather have this problem hang around than release his returns.

  1. He values his privacy more than he wants to be president.
  2. He thinks his privacy is of more value than his value to the country would be as president since he is definitely hurting his chances of winning by not releasing his taxes.
  3. He doesn’t think he has what it takes to deal effectively with the possible fuss that may likely come from people going through his tax returns. (If he can’t handle defending legitimately prepared tax returns, how can he expect people to trust him to be president?)
  4. He is incredibly stubborn to the point of being childish.
  5. He feels it is beneath him to submit to a proper vetting by the American people and the American press or as his wife said “You people”.
  6. He doesn’t believe the average American will elect a super wealthy individual.
  7. He may have more money than he can explain how he was able to accumulate legally, fairly or with approaches Americans will view as acceptable for a really smart businessman.  For example  the enormous amount of money rumored to be in his IRA.
  8. He may have less money than he has lead people to believe and he will be revealed as a fraud.
  9. He may have made some investments that turned out to be stupid and would spoil his image as a financial genius.
  10. He may have investments that people think are morally repugnant.
  11. He thinks most Americans are too stupid to understand his tax returns and won’t accept them as legitimately prepared.
  12. He was real clever in using legal tax loop holes and he doesn’t want them exposed so they might get closed because of the indignation of those who are not rich enough to use those tax tricks. (Perhaps he is being pressured by his fellow superrich friends not to disclose the secret to their tax magic tricks.)
  13. He thinks the tax lawful tax approaches he used, although legal, will be viewed as unfair, unsavory, unethical and people will resent him and not vote for him.
  14. He may be concerned that with people combing through his returns, they will find he didn’t pay what he should have, used questionable tax reducing strategies, etc.  He has said he doesn’t read the tax returns he just signs them. (Which in itself is improper)
  15. He directed his wealth managers and tax pros to use EVERY possible tax dodge and so he is sure there are things in his returns that could blow up in his face.
  16. He knows he did things that were illegal and for which he hasn’t been caught (yet).
  17. He may have investments that show he is investing in a way that he is betting against America.
  18. He may have investments with shady people or countries not well appreciated by the American people.
  19. He has gone back and amended his tax returns to rewrite history as some have argued he did to show that his permanent residence was in Massachusetts for 7 years prior to running for Governor.  Since he stated he retired from Bain Capital retroactively to avoid blame for bankrupting companies and firing people, and he first took and then gave up Utah real estate tax deductions only allowed to Utah state residents this is not an unreasonable claim to consider.
  20. He thinks how he handled his taxes for the years he won’t reveal won’t pass the smell test.

I’m not saying that he did anything illegal or even wrong on his taxes but if he didn’t he has no good enough reasons to not disclose his taxes.  If he did some things that Americans would feel disqualify him as president then keeping his tax returns secret may be better than releasing them but that would indicate at least he feels he has something to hide that people won’t like about him and he doesn’t think Americans have the right to make an informed decision about who their president is.

No doubt about it, Romney and his team handled this situation all wrong.  They turned what probably wasn’t much of an issue had he disclosed his returns into a situation that it is hard to understand if he has done nothing wrong why he won’t release his returns.  In any event, if this is how he and his team botched something simple, can we trust him to be our president?