MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT



So now it comes out that the Romney campaign allegedly required potential vice presidential candidates to provide ten years of income tax returns during the vetting process.

According to the Daily Beast:

As part of its vetting, the Romney campaign required at least some of the candidates on the short list—including the eventual winner of the GOP veepstakes, Ryan—to submit fully 10 years of tax returns, according to a knowledgeable source.

The requirement was consistent with the past practices of both Republican and Democratic campaigns. Indeed, in 2008, Mitt Romney turned over 23 years of taxes to John Mccain’s campaign when he was under consideration to be the Arizona senator’s running mate.

As for a Romney tax return recap, thus far he has only provided a partial 2010 return and has yet to release his 2011 tax form.

In the spring and early summer, what was in the unreleased returns was the subject of rampant speculation in the media, including on BuzzFlash at Truthout.

Romney ultimately stopped the momentum to release many more years of his IRS returns by claiming – quite vaguely – that he had reviewed his taxes and had paid about 13% over the last few years.

BuzzFlash at Truthout was one of the only news outlets to note that Romney – and his wife Ann – referred to the taxes they had paid, not specifically their income taxes. We also noted, after talking to financial advisers, how Romney could have paid 13% in taxes – in theory – without paying any or little income tax in the mysterious unreleased years. Again, he never said that he paid 13% in income taxes over those years, just in taxes, which could include many other forms of taxation (including taxes paid to overseas governments and Medicare and Social Security payments).

Ann Romney, in one of her earlier interviews about why she and Mitt would not release earlier or complete taxes, claimed that "you people" know all you need to know about their finances, and admitted that further disclosures would only provide "more ammunition."

The Romney campaign remained tight-lipped about the hypocrisy of demanding 10 years of tax returns from VP possibilities, while thus far Romney has only released a partial return from 2010. The Daily Beast reported, "In response to questions about the 10-year requirement, Romney campaign press secretary Andrea Saul declined comment. 'We do not discuss the VP selection process,' she wrote in an email."

That's the same Andrea Saul who responded to an Obama ad about a woman who died as a result of her husband being laid off by Bain Capital and losing their health insurance by claiming that the woman would have had medical coverage if she had lived in Massachusetts because of "Romneycare." Of course, "Romneycare" is the prototype for the Affordable Care Act, which Romney has promised to repeal if elected.

This ongoing obfuscation from the Romney campaign is really becoming quite taxing.

(Image by Lynn Larrow, InternetWeekly.org)

