Tax Returns, Precedents, & Morality

            No one can deny that Mitt Romney is a very wealthy man; this is public knowledge. But how rich is this Presidential candidate? If Romney would cough up more of his tax returns we just might find out. But it seems some want the tax returns just to see how much this man is actually worth. Sure, people can make the claim that since Romney is promoting himself as a man who can fix this country’s economic problems, ‘We The People’ should get to see his personal economics. But that’s just what tax returns are – personal. When did the right to privacy go away? The whole ordeal over Romney’s taxes is not unlike Obama’s birth certificate talks – it’s getting blown out of proportion and causing people to lose track of what is actually important when it comes to the Presidential race.

            Nowhere does it say a Presidential candidate has to fork over their tax returns, as it is arguable this would be an incredible invasion of privacy. While Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel accuse Romney of hiding something, they cannot actually back up their claims, and their only response is telling Romney to prove them wrong by showing his tax returns. Steve Schmidt, one of John McCain’s 2008 campaign strategists, said McCain’s choice to choose Sarah Palin over Mitt Romney as his running mate had nothing to do with Romney’s taxes, saying Democrats who say this “have no way of knowing any of the basis of that statement. It’s rhetorical flourish.” Since Romney’s taxes have become somewhat of a hot topic, Schmidt’s opinion of the whole issue did not stop there when it came to a recent article in the Huffington Post. "It's totally unfair. They don’t know any of the facts," Schmidt said of the inference about Romney's tax returns. "But it's hard to refute. And the bottom line is the American people don’t trust politicians so nobody gets the benefit of the doubt and the utterance of the accusation does damage. People believe you’re hiding something. It's wrong, it's unfair, but it's life in the big leagues.”

            Interestingly, it was Mitt Romney’s father, George Romney, who set the precedent for Presidential candidates to release their tax returns, releasing 12 years’ worth of tax information when he ran for the Republican nominee in 1968. Though he has only released one year of taxes as a Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney released 23 years of taxes to Senator McCain when he was vetted for the Vice Presidential running mate spot during the last Presidential election. It can be argued America should be able to see Mitt’s taxes as they can supposedly somehow benefit us voters, and that his taxes are just as much professional as they are personal and therefore releasing them is not an invasion of privacy. If Mitt doesn’t have anything to hide, releasing his tax returns to the public shouldn’t be a big deal. But it still doesn’t seem right that he should be forced to do so if he doesn’t want to. This is America, isn’t it? It’s supposed to be the land of free choice, no?

            It’s a lose-lose situation for Mitt, as he doesn’t have to release his tax returns, but not doing so could cause great damage to his campaign. It should be noted that any teenager who ever babysat and got paid in cash, an under-the-table transaction, and did not claim that money as income is guilty of depriving our country of taxes just as much as Romney is with his off-shore accounts. According to the law, these babysitters might actually be more at fault than Romney, as these transactions took place in the country. Having off-shore accounts is not illegal, though the money is still subject to being taxed. Yet, according to bank secrecy there is no obligation for an off-shore bank to declare any income in any of their accounts. Though it may not be moral in everyone’s eyes, let’s be honest – I’d probably not believe you if you told me you wouldn’t open an off-shore account if you had Billions of dollars. And since when is morality an important trait for being a great president? Last time I checked John F. Kennedy was anything but moral during his time in the While House, and he was still loved by many… perhaps too loved by some.