Is Reid's source right? Nobody but Romney knows. And he knows exactly how he could clear the air...

Is Reid's source right? Nobody but Romney knows. And he knows exactly how he could clear the air...

"His poor father must be so embarrassed about his son," Reid said, in reference to George Romney's standard-setting decision to turn over 12 years of tax returns when he ran for president in the late 1960s. Saying he had "no problem with somebody being really, really wealthy," Reid sat up in his chair a bit before stirring the pot further. A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office. "Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying. "He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

That's a pretty extraordinary allegation for someone to make, and given that there's no reason to believe Bain investors have any greater access to Mitt Romney's tax returns than anybody else, this probably falls into the realm of conjecture. Nonetheless, as long as Romney keeps his returns secret, what he's hiding is anybody's guess. Over the weekend, Romney said that 'so far as [he] can recall,' he has paid "a very substantial amount" of taxes every year, but he's offered no proof of that. Given that Romney has consistently said he believes releasing his returns would be politically damaging, it's safe to say that even if the Bain investor is wrong, and Romney has paid taxes, there's a fair bit of material in there that Romney doesn't want voters to find out about before the election. And that's exactly why it's so important he come clean and release his returns.