We have a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. Mitt Romney is slamming Donald Trump because he has not yet released any tax returns. Talking to Fox News earlier today, Romney suggested that Trump is not releasing his tax returns because they contain a "bombshell." "We’re gonna select our nominee. We really ought to see from all three of these fellas what their taxes look like to see if there’s an issue there," Romney said. "I think in Donald Trump’s case, it’s likely to be a bombshell."
Romney's hypocrisy on this issue couldn't be greater. In 2012, he procrastinated until long after he received the Republican nomination for president to release his 2011 tax return, which revealed that he paid a much lower federal income tax rate than average Americans. Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), a fellow Mormon, repeatedly claimed Romney was withholding his tax returns because he had paid no federal income taxes in a decade.
Romney waited until September 21, 2012, less than 60 days before the November election, to reveal his 2011 tax returns. Those returns showed he had paid $1.94 million in taxes on $13.7 million he earned primarily from his investments, an effective tax rate of 14.1 %. Those returns also showed he had claimed $2.25 million in charitable contributions. He also released a memo in which he claimed he had paid at an average effective tax rate of 20.2% over the past 20 years and gave an average of 13.45 % of his income to charity over that same period.
Last July, Trump filed a 92-page financial disclosure statement with the FEC in which he claimed assets worth at least $1.4 billion, generating income of $431 million over the most recent 18-month period and liabilities of at least $265 million. Forbes pegs Trump's net worth at $4 billion. He has claimed a much higher net worth in excess of $10 billion.
8 comments:
The GOP establishment is in full meltdown mode. It's sort of funny. The time for these people to worry was years ago when they lost loyal Republicans like me. I have nothing but contempt for Romney, Dole, all of them
Mitt Romney's hypocritical complaints against Donald Trump certainly are amazing.
When all was said and done, it was Mitt Romney who gave us Marxist Barak Obama's Second Term as POTUS.
Please, Mr. Romney, go away. JUST GO VERY FAR AWAY.
The establishment doesn't know how to act these days, don't you all get it, the jig is up, we're tired of doing politics for the money and not for the people they are suppose to serve. I would like one name of a representative from Indiana in Washington who truly serves the people, I don't know I'm asking!
The Establishment having lost their lead horse, Jeb Bush, is moving to their fall back position, a young wanna be, also from Florida and previously Jeb's pup. Would Bob Grand be pleased to see this two candidate solution? Harry Reid, for novices, is one of the most despicable of liars in the Democrat Party (quite an accomplishment when you look at their stable of veteran liars some of whom have been lying for two or three decades). Harry Reid obviously believes that all is fair in love, war, and politics, or used to before getting a physical beating from thugs with no sense of humor concerning that saying. He, of course, lied about his run in. Down Texas way they have a saying about "All Hat and No Cows" but just North West of Texas they have a different saying about Hats. Not to knock Mormons much but between Reid and Romney one can discern that Mormons have a different view of telling the truth, perhaps talking thru the hat is acceptable there? So, what is the lying Romney up to? Lying isn't his usual game and he isn't very good at it. Perhaps rueful because Trump got a Palin endorsement that he didn't even seek until finding out too late that Rove was an asshat and his polling numbers were phony? That keeping arm's length from the Republican base wasn't such a hot idea and rueing that Trump has waded right into it and expanded it? Codevilla readers know what Mitt is up to and just who is pulling his strings.
It's laughable that people complain about Romney for being a liberal pretending to be a conservative when Trump is a far bigger liberal than Romney ever thought of being.
Did Romney voice these "concerns" in 2012... when he accepted campaign dollars from Trump? He did accept contributions from Trump didn't he?
And I would like to see Romney's amended tax return for 2011. Having promised the public that his tax rate was above 13%, he did not take entitled deductions that brought his rate up to 14.1% from an otherwise estimated 10.4%. Living up to his other promise that if a person paid more in taxes than he owed he didn't deserve to be president, Romney surely filed an amended return the following year.
ALL candidates and public officials should be legally obligated to submit their tax records for public inspection. If that's too much to ask, then don't submit yourself for public office.
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