Why is Romney not disclosing his returns?

The non disclosure is doing damage. more damage than disclosure. Unless

So something makes no sense.

#1 if he barely paid any taxes, so what if he releases it it will be a big yawn and everyone would think "I knew that" and end of story.

The only thing I could think is he broke the law and has committed tax evasion. Releasing returns would put him liable for charges.

Any other theories?
 
As I recall, it was something along the lines of putting some shares from Bain in his IRA/401k at some nominal value, which then wound up being valued at quite a bit more later.
Which, on googling, turns out to be one of the theories that would both explain the low tax rate and his huge IRA:



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/the-secret-behind-romney-s-magical-ira.html

On July 3, Current TV host Jennifer Granholm, a former Democratic governor of Michigan, invited Edward Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California, on her show to discuss how Romney could have accomplished this remarkable feat. There were “only two possibilities,” Kleinbard told Granholm. Either “from a little acorn, a mighty oak grew very, very quickly, extraordinarily so,” Kleinbard explained, causing Granholm to interject, “What little acorn could grow to be $101 million? I want to get some of that acorn!”

The other possibility, Kleinbard suggested, was not dissimilar to what Maremont theorized: that Romney contributed limited-partnership interests in Bain’s buyouts to his IRA. What was “quite troubling” to Kleinbard is that he suspected Romney may have contributed these interests to his IRA at a fraction of their market value -- “pennies on the dollar” -- and well below what he might have charged you or me. When the buyouts became successful, Kleinbard proposed, the pennies on the dollar were suddenly worth real dollars.

“What’s very frustrating to me about all this is that we can only talk in abstractions and generalities because, again, of the lack of disclosure,” Kleinbard said.

Without mentioning the heroics Romney has accomplished in his IRA, the New York Times editorialized on July 10 that the rest of Romney’s opaque “tax avoidance” schemes -- including overseas shelters in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland and elsewhere -- amount to nothing short of a “financial black hole” that he would be well advised to explain to the public. He should put explaining his magical IRA at the top of the list.
 
Quote from trefoil:

As I recall, it was something along the lines of putting some shares from Bain in his IRA/401k at some nominal value, which then wound up being valued at quite a bit more later.
Which, on googling, turns out to be one of the theories that would both explain the low tax rate and his huge IRA:

[/B]

Funny you mention that. My wife said something that his IRA was X amount of dollars and she that that made no sense. I told here I agree but that maybe she heard something wrong.

Since 401Ks are capped in the amount you can put into every year.

but all this speculation is not helping him.

He needs to throw all the cards on the table and take his beatings at one time and be done. What he is doing is much worse, nothing like mystery and uncertainty to really make hime look worse to the public.

Unless he broke IRS laws and disclosure puts him into a situation of criminal liability.
 
Quote from noob_trad3r:

Funny you mention that. My wife said something that his IRA was X amount of dollars and she that that made no sense. I told here I agree but that maybe she heard something wrong.

Since 401Ks are capped in the amount you can put into every year.

romneys ira is something like 103 million. not possible with out going into grey areas of the law.
 
Two Years’ Returns Not Enough for Romney Either
August 15, 2012 at 2:03 pm Ed Brayton
As Mitt Romney refuses to release more than two years of his own tax returns (in fact he’s only released one so far, but has said he’ll release a second year), it seems that’s not good enough for his own potential vice presidential candidates. He required more from them during the vetting process.

The campaign team for Romney, the Republican presidential candidate, reviewed several years of tax returns from Ryan and others, according to Beth Myers, the head of Romney’s vice presidential search process.

But Romney – a former private equity executive with an estimated net worth of up to $250 million – has refused to publicly release more than two years of tax returns…

During an interview with Romney on CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Ryan said he would follow Romney’s lead and release two years of his tax returns.

Tim Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor who was a potential Romney running mate, said he also had to submit several years of tax returns during the search for a Republican vice presidential candidate.

“So more than two?” asked George Stephanopoulos, the host of ABC’s “This Week.”

“Well, we don’t get into the details of the vetting process, but I gave him a bunch of tax returns,” Pawlenty replied. “I don’t remember the exact number of years.”
So the candidate for vice president has to show many years of returns to him, but two years is enough for voters, err, I mean, “you people.” Isn’t that convenient for him?
 
Quote from noob_trad3r:

Funny you mention that. My wife said something that his IRA was X amount of dollars and she that that made no sense. I told here I agree but that maybe she heard something wrong.

Since 401Ks are capped in the amount you can put into every year.

but all this speculation is not helping him.

He needs to throw all the cards on the table and take his beatings at one time and be done. What he is doing is much worse, nothing like mystery and uncertainty to really make hime look worse to the public.

Unless he broke IRS laws and disclosure puts him into a situation of criminal liability.

I'm sure there's nothing criminal about it. Dishonest in terms of stretching the law to its limits, yes, criminal, not likely.
Embarrassing? You betcha.
 
Quote from trefoil:

I'm sure there's nothing criminal about it. Dishonest in terms of stretching the law to its limits, yes, criminal, not likely.
Embarrassing? You betcha.

But if that is the case, then just release them. Not like no one is going to be surprised that he pays no taxes or maybe 15% at best.

The whole "I wont release" just adds too much mystery/suspicion/uncertainty and that is worse.

Unless what he has is so bad that (or illegal) that he would rather not win the election VS releasing the returns.
 
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