Romney Runs from Tax Transparency

Yesterday Mitt Romney was interviewed by ABC News and said this about his taxes:

"From time to time I’ve been audited — as it happens, I think, to other citizens as well — and the accounting firm which prepares my taxes has done a very thorough and complete job, pay[ing] taxes as legally due."
. . . "I don't pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president. I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires."
. . . "I haven't looked at the tax rate paid year by year. I know that I pay a very substantial amount of taxes and [have] every year since the beginning of my career, so far as I can recall."

Yep, there you have it . . . "so far as he can recall."

It never ceases to amaze me that a man running on his sterling background in business and high finance can be so blatantly obtuse and vague about his own personal finances.

That interview must have raised new questions and we know how much Mitt hates those, so he must have put his little foot down. Ann Romney will get the last word when she said "We've given all you people need to know" about their income taxes. As of today, they just aren't going to answer any more of these persnickety tax questions, so there!

Now all you journalists and snoopy people, please slink out the back servant's door and leave us alone in our counting house!

CNN Reporting:

Mitt Romney's campaign said Monday they would not release any more of the candidate's personal income tax information, despite an acknowledgement from Romney that he had been audited in the past.

"Mitt Romney has paid his taxes in full compliance with U.S. Law, and he has paid 100 percent of what he has owed," Romney spokesman Ryan Williams wrote.

. . . He continued, "As has previously been reported, in 2011, the Romneys will pay more than $3.2 million in taxes on $20.9 million in mostly investment income and will have donated more than $4 million to charity. In 2010, The Romneys paid more than $3 million in taxes on $21.6 million in mostly investment income and donated nearly $3 million to charity."

Romney has disclosed his income tax returns from 2010, and released an estimate of his 2011 tax information in April. He has vowed to release 2011's full return one it's completed by his accountant.