

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. (BRIAN SNYDER/REUTERS)

Today, Mitt Romney promised he’ll release his tax returns on Tuesday. “We just made a mistake in holding off as long as we did. It just was a distraction.” But he only plans to release his return for 2010 and an estimate of his returns for 2011. That might have been enough prior to the controversy. George W. Bush only released one year of his tax returns. But it won’t work now. As Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith tweeted, “Releasing the 2010 returns is just blood in the water. What about the previous 20 years?”

Romney’s resistance to releasing his tax returns made it look like he had something to hide. Now, he needs to prove that he doesn’t. And to prove that, one year is not enough. After all, one year could just be a fluke, perhaps done for show.