Tug-o-Tax
The battle over Mitt Romney's tax returns has returned to the campaign trail. How long can it go on?
Tug-o-Tax
John Baer, Daily News Political Columnist
The battle over Mitt Romney's tax returns has returned to the campaign fray with new information from Mitt and a new challenge from the Obama camp.
On Thursday, Romney said he paid at least 13 percent of his income in taxes in each of last 10 years.
The Associated Press, citing the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, reports middle-income families making $50,000 to $75,000 pay an average of 12.8 percent.
Romney's new claim is no doubt aimed at blunting the claim (offered without a shred of evidence) by Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid that Romney paid no income taxes for 10 years.
So at first blush, the new Romney tax info would seem to help Mitt. But by reprising the issue Romney handed Obama's camp a new opening, which it quickly took.
On Friday, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina released a letter to the Romney campaign saying it promises to drop the issue if Romney releases five years worth of returns.
"Gov. Romney apparently fears that the more he offers, the more our campaign will demand...I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: if the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more -- neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign," the letter says.
The five years includes 2010, which Romney has released, and 2011, which he has pledged to release.
The Obama tact is politically smart because it keeps the issue alive; but it's also disingenuous since Romney and his wife repeatedly and firmly say they plan no further tax releases, and to change that position now would add weight to Mitt's flip-flop image.
The new proposal and its all-but-certain rejection also could fuel further speculation about why Romney is withholding the returns. This includes possibly revisting a report last month in Mother Jones magazine that Romney's company, Bain Capital, invested in a medical-waste disposal company, Stericycle, that, among other things, disposes of aborted fetuses collected from family planning centers.
Whether Romney's income or management of Bain can be directly linked to Stericycle or not, just raising the issue of a possible connection could cause problems for the GOP candidate.
How far any of this goes is anyone's guess. But I'm guessing Obama will press the tax button from here to November 6.
Obama will do anything but talk about what a miserable failure his Presidency is. He has that in common with the writers at the Inquirer, A Media Matters Newspaper.— tr88
Comment removed.- See below. In Obama's own words. — tr88
- If I cant fix the economy in 3 years, you can call me former President Obama. That's racisthttp://www.ihatethemedia.com/obama-in-2009-if-cant-fix-economy-fire-me---— tr88
- Thanks for pointing out how naive Obama was in thinking that republicans cared more about saving America than stopping him from getting reflected. He was wrong and so our economy hasn't grown nearly as much as it could have without republican obstructionism. — PhillySteel36
- Promise. I will cut the budget deficit in half. The facts. Obama has run higher deficits every year than any President in history and added more to the national debt in 4 years than George Bush did irresponsibly in 8 years.— tr88
- Comment removed.
- Reagan was getting 750K jobs a month for a tiny fraction of the stimulus Obama spent. — tr88
- Comment removed.
- In Reagans 4th year of his first term, he created 7 million jobs. I dont know if youve heard, but Reagan wont be running this time. He's dead. — tr88
- Reagans final budget deficit was 2.9% of GDP. Obama has averaged about 11% — tr88
- Comment removed.
- Th number of years he was in office has nothing to do with per centage of GDP. Why is it you cant assign any accountability to the President of the US, the most powerful man i nthe wrold? I've never seen such excuse making. In his own words, If I dont fix the economy in 3 years, "I will be held accountable". He underestimated his base, nothing is ever his fault. — tr88
- Comment removed.
- No moron, percentages have everything to do with it. Or if you really want it that way, Reagan increased the debt by less than 3 trillion in 8 years. Obama increased the debt by 6 trillion in 4. — tr88
John is the author of the book "On The Front Lines of Pennsylvania Politics: Twenty-Five Years of Keystone Reporting" (The History Press, 2012). Reach John at baerj@phillynews.com.
