Should Mitt Romney Release More of His Tax Returns? >
On His Tax Returns, Mitt Romney Thinks Voters Can't Handle the Truth
The former Massachusetts governor hasn't earned the trust of the American people
July 18, 2012
The American people have a funny habit of always wanting to look under the hood—whether it's when we buy a car or elect a president—we want to know what we're getting. We want to make sure the sparkplugs are in place, understand how many miles are on the engine, and that we have all the facts to make a sound judgment. The whole reason lemon laws were passed, in the first place, was to give the American consumer full information of what they were buying—no one deserves to get stuck with a lemon.
Mitt Romney is asking the American people take the ultimate leap of faith, to blindly believe all he claims is true and to give him their trust and vote. At the same time, he is unwilling to let them kick the tires and see his own financial and tax-paying history really is.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the 2012 campaign.]
By not releasing his tax returns, he has essentially said to the American people—to quote Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men—"You can't handle the truth," and therefore its best I keep you in dark. It is through transparency that trust is built and so far, Romney hasn't been transparent with his taxes, his policy positions, the identity of bundlers to his campaign, what his exact history with Bain Capital was, how many off-shore accounts he has, or who is funding his super PAC. Romney is playing his own version of the game hide and seek—and unfortunately, it's the American people who are in the dark.
Mitt Romney has declared that he has provided the American people all information that is required by law. Even if that turns out to be true, don't the American people deserve more and the right to know what's really under the hood?
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- Other Arguments
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#15125
Yes — Romney needs to change his mind and release his tax returns
JAMIE CHANDLER, Political Scientist at Hunter College
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#34426
Yes — Romney is clearly hiding something, but the cover-up is always worse than the crime
BRAD BANNON, President of Bannon Communications Research
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#43724
Yes — Romney needs to release his tax returns and let any fallout quickly become old news
LARA BROWN, Author of 'Jockeying for the American Presidency: The Political Opportunism of Aspirants'
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#55243
Yes — Romney shouldn't cave to pressure to release more than one more year of tax returns
MATT MACKOWIAK, President of Potomac Strategy Group
