Tax Problems Come Back To Haunt Mitt Romney – OpEd

By Jared DeLuna

As President Obama takes a leap in the polls, Mitt Romney is stumbling over his tax problems. Democrats are calling on Mitt Romney to release at least 12 years of tax returns in order to see how much the GOP presidential candidate has really paid.

After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Obama Care, Romney looked like he would be ahead in the polls for a long time. This boost, however, was short lived. Romney is now in a big heap of trouble – all because of his failure to produce his tax returns.

Democrats are claiming that if he really has nothing to hide, why doesn’t he just show the American people how much he has paid in taxes? “He needs to come clean about his income and taxes.” Chris Savage, writer and founder of Eclectablog, told the Voice of Russia.

“Note that President Obama has released many years of tax records which is the norm for presidential candidates. Romney is breaking that trend despite the fact that he is reported to have released them to the McCain campaign in 2008 when he was being vetted as a vice-presidential candidate” Chris Savage added.

So far, Romney has only released one year of back tax returns, which didn’t do well for him. According to the tax return, Romney only paid 13% in taxes, which is much lower than that of the middle class which currently stands at 30%.

Mitt Romney’s own father was the one that started this trend where presidential candidates show their tax returns. George Romney, Republican presidential candidate in 1968, is famously quoted in saying “one year could be a fluke and the end of the show.”

This begs the question, why did McCain not pick Mitt Romney to be his vice-president? Was it because he told McCain the same thing he has told the American people about his tax returns? It is hard to believe that the son of the man that started this trend has not released more than one year of his tax returns.

While Romney is being pulled further and further into a fight over taxes, earlier this week the Democrats also stated that Mitt Romney has some offshore accounts that hold an alleged $30 million.

“All the currently available evidence suggests he is doing it to avoid paying taxes in the US and, if that’s true, it calls into question his loyalty to our country,” Chris Savage also said.

Romney’s offshore accounts have sparked outrage among Democrats who believe he has lied about everything in his taxes. They are now shifting their talking points from the economy to Mitt Romney and his accounts.

To answer all these issues Republicans are steering the questions back to President Obama and his own failure to fix the economy as well as the poor Job Market report.

Mark Biernt, writer and founder of Political-Economy.com, wrote “The stimulus is based on helping some, but not others. For example, you work and pay taxes, so your neighbor’s wife can remodel her bathroom on a housing upgrade credit from Obama. Think about it when on your next commute to work.”

Mitt Romney was also quick to pick up on this Job Market report which states that the unemployment rate in America has stayed at 8.2%. Romney also claims that America is like a business, and that he knows how to run a business.

It looks like this black spot against Romney and his tax returns will not go away. That is until he releases his returns in full. You can also be sure that once he releases his tax returns the Democrats will pick his papers apart to find another blemish on his record.

While the Republicans will look for some good points, as of right now no Republican is coming to the aid of Mitt Romney and his tax problems. They are all steering questions away from the GOP presidential candidate.