tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post48612146096867813..comments2024-02-29T02:10:56.878-08:00Comments on J O S H U A P U N D I T: Were Mitt Romney's Tax Returns Stolen?Freedom Fighterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13649470110087808596noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16816866.post-4295443324994181152012-09-06T16:43:09.821-07:002012-09-06T16:43:09.821-07:00As I understand it Mr. Romney has released his 201...As I understand it Mr. Romney has released his 2010 tax return and will release his 2011 tax return when it is completed. This will likely be around 10/15. <br /><br />As someone with experience in this area, I can attest to how complicated tax returns for someone like Mr. Romney can be. As such, it is unlikely that there is any feasible way that his federal, state, and local tax returns could be completed by the pre extension due date of 4/15. <br /><br />The IRS has three years from the due date of a tax return to audit it unless fraud is suspected. As such, it might be reasonable to expect Mr. Romney to release his 2009 tax return but to request any thing prior to that time is unreasonable. Also, the tax returns of a person of Mr. Romney's wealth and prominence are very likely closely scrutinized every year by the IRS. As such, fraud in this area by the Romney's is exceedingly unlikely. <br /><br />In the unlikely event that these returns were not scrutinized or they were scrutinized and some thing slipped by the IRS, the only real problems I see Mr. Romney could have here, from a legal point of view, is back in 2009 the IRS learned of monies in certain Swiss bank accounts and offered amnesty for certain taxpayers if they would come forward and pay taxes on these earnings. If they did so, they could avoid certain penalties and they could avoid jail time. If Mr. Romney took advantage of something like this, that could be a huge problem for him. <br /><br />Also, he has claimed that he was inactive in Bain Capital even though he was listed on the company records. As someone with experience in this area, I know it is quite common to list shareholders as officers even though they really aren't active. As such, there is likely nothing there. However, if any of these entities had losses, the tax deductions for an active shareholder are much better than for one that is inactive. If he took deductions as though he were active in the entities and now he claims he wasn't this could be a huge problem. <br /><br />I doubt he or the Republicans would be dumb enough to put themselves in such a position of having a presidential candidate who was a tax cheat and had to claim amnesty for foreign income or claimed losses as an active member when he was not, or could they be that dumb? From the beginning the RNC made it clear we could have Mitt or we could have Mitt as our nominee. Perhaps they were all so eager to give us Mitt that they overlooked certain things. In the case of ideology, smart people can become dumb!!<br /><br />From a strictly pr perspective, I see two conceivable problems. 1.)These are VERY complex tax returns. Often times the tax treatment of some items is subject to multiple interpretations. As such, the Democrats may try to "cherry pick" certain things to cast the Romneys in a certain light. 2.)It is not unusual that high income taxpayers are entitled to certain tax benefits not available to others. As such, it is conceivable his tax rate for some of the years in question could come in under 10%. This is a good thing actually. We need to be rewarding those who achieve. High income taxpayers are more likely to create jobs than are others!! We need to be rewarding them for this not punishing their achievments. <br /><br />In the final analysis, these tax returns will become public knowledge one way or the other. Someone will simply "leak" them. Like you I'd suspect Mr. Romney has prepared for this. B.Posternoreply@blogger.com