U DA MAN?

You would have thought that since Mitt has been running for the presidency since 2008 that he would have learned from his past mistakes and deficiencies and made efforts to avoid repeating them, such as the need to release his income tax reports without prompting by his rivals. When Mitt’s father, George ran for president in 1968 he released ten years of income tax statements. When Mitt was asked if he planned to do the same he was non committal. Mitt has released some income information however which indicated that he had income of 26 million in 2011 and would pay 14% tax, because the income was not wages but capital gains. However Mitt did not file his income tax by the April 15^th deadline, requesting a 6 month extension. What is he hiding and won’t release until just before the election?  Does this sound like a person you can trust in the oval office?

As further evidence of his craftiness is his failure to specifically state his plans if elected, except of course that he has repeatedly said he plans to repeal the health care reform bill which he calls Obamacare.   This will prove difficult for him to argue in the campaign ahead because the health care reform bill was modeled after his own Romneycare which also had a mandate that people buy their own insurance. This is an interesting predicament for the U.S. Supreme Court which will issue their decision on the health care reform mandate in June, since if it rules the mandate unconstitutional they might in fact also be ruling against the Massachusetts health care bill.

Although Mitt has kept his own plans secret, being content to criticize the president while touting his own public sector experience, a clue to Romney’s future plans was accidently revealed to reporters from the Wall Street Journal and NBC News on Sunday April 15, 20012, when in a closed door fundraiser Mitt was overheard telling a group of wealthy donors that he was going to get rid of some tax deductions and eliminate some cabinet departments such as Housing and Urban Development. He said that he would eliminate or combine many government departments including the Department of Education to help offset his proposal to slash all U.S. tax rates by 20%.

By the following Monday Mitt was busy scrambling to distance himself from the comments overheard y the reporters. While not specific the comments that he had made did not go much further in describing his plans on what he outlined in previous public appearances. He said he would line out state property tax deductions now taken by millions of Americans, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The additional issues that Mitt has not addressed are his bank accounts in the Cayman Islands. It may have been necessary for Mitt to have these accounts when he was with Bain Capital, but he has not worked with Bain, since he became governor of Massachusetts. If the taxes he pays there would be the same if that money was in U.S. Banks, what is the real purpose of having his money there.

The New York Times on May 6, 20012, reported that the Senate permanent subcommittee on Investigation in 2008 estimated that at least $5 trillion to $7 trillion was sheltered in offshore jurisdictions like the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Bahamas. These jurisdictions have little or no tax.  The favorable tax rates encourage corporation to avoid paying American taxes by structuring complicated international transactions.  But it is not just lower tax rates that make these jurisdictions attractive to those following the rules.  The secrecy of offshore jurisdictions   allows some individuals and corporations to engage in outright tax fraud, costing America at least $40 billion each year. And that secrecy makes offshore tax fraud almost impossible for law enforcement to detect. The secrecy laws in those tax havens are at the root of serious crimes: fraud, money laundering and international terrorism. Legislation shaped by Senators Carl Levin, Kent Conrad and Sheldon Whitehouse that would curb some of these tax abuses by giving the Treasury Department the muscle to respond when foreign governments hamper our tax enforcement was recently passed by the Senate, but awaits House action. Don’t hold your breath.  

Double Fist Bump for now!