Harry Reid: 'Romney basically paid no taxes for 12 years'

[ProSense]

Harry Reid: 'Romney basically paid no taxes for 12 years'

by brooklynbadboy

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid yesterday asserted on the Senate floor that Mitt Romney paid no taxes at all for years:

His father, George Romney, set the precedent that people running for president would file their tax returns, let everybody look at them. But Mitt Romney can’t do that because he’s basically paid no taxes in the prior 12 years.

Maybe Harry Reid knows something we don't. Maybe he's shooting from the hip without knowing all the facts.

With questions swirling around Romney's overseas investments in tax havens, secretive foriegn corporations and Swiss bank accounts, we don't know what's going on. Republican Joe Scarborough and Democrat Howard Dean speculated on Morning Joe this morning that there may be years where Romney paid no taxes at all.

I do know what will clear the matter up:

Full disclosure of Mitt Romney's tax returns and business documents.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/13/1109527/-Harry-Reid-Romney-basically-paid-no-taxes-for-12-years

[JustAnotherGen]

1. That was well done

Harry Reid - is the perfect person to deliver that missive.

Now anyone that responds to it on the right has to pony up the tax returns. They can't just say, "That's not true Harry Reid" and say it with authority without Romney's returns in their hands.


Whether it's true or not Reid just taunted that campaign into showing us the returns . . .

[flamingdem]

2. Go Harry

get under their skin

[xxqqqzme]

17. Yep his sound bite is well placed.

There is a script and some Democrats are learning their lines.

[loyalsister]

44. Absolutely

They may finally have to dig up a couple where they paid 2% or so to disprove Harry

[sufrommich]

3. If this is true, I hope the Obama campaign is

saving it for October. It's too early to throw these bombs.

[FSogol]

4. Maybe there are so many bombs that you have to start throwing some now.

What else is waiting to come out?

[NNN0LHI]

36. Romney is going to find out some things about himself that even he doesn't know about yet

This stuff is going to come out in waves.

About the time the Romney campaign spends weeks beating back one attack there is going to be another.

It is the cumulative effect.

Don

[FSogol]

41. Wonder if he has more than 1 wife? Or maybe 1-3 more with another 5-20 kids?

[Solomon]

42. I've always wondered that too. i want to know about

the other wives.

[FSogol]

55. Maybe he named one son Tagg, because he already used all of the other names.

[magical thyme]

43. if he doesn't release his tax returns, this mantra will haunt him until November

If he does release his tax returns, there's probably a treasure trove of bombs to drop and land mines to step on.

[Cali_Democrat]

16. It's definitely not too early

The Obama campaign is defining Romney for the voters. It's best to do it in the summer time. Also, there's probably so much out there that they can't wait to release all the info at the last minute.

[Coyotl]

18. "Just don't be late" is a good rule for defining a political public persona, in other words

do it before your opponent gets it done, or the opponent's definition gets entrenched first. Once done, more work to undo either way.

[madokie]

39. Upper cuts are always effective no matter when delivered

Mitt the stiff should have thought twice before he threw his hat in the ring is all I can say for him. Its all down hill from now 'til November


President O has a wicked right hook too

[99Forever]

49. I concur.

I think it would have been a better strategic move to have waited until after the POS had been officially nominated.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. It keeps getting better and better.

[riverwalker]

6. no taxes

no military service for Romney family
no taxes paid to pay for others who serve, their benefits.
What has the Rmoney clan ever done for their country, besides leech it's lifeblood like the parasites they are?

[Gregorian]

8. Those who don't pay taxes are LEECHES! Romney is a leech.

I think it's brilliant. You nailed it. That's a message people can see clearly.

[hifiguy]

12. Rmoney loves the US the way a tick loves a dog,

to quote The Magistrate.

[CountAllVotes]

30. I couldn't agree more!

I know of some pukes that are this way. All they do is bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch about taxes.

They don't want to pay any as they count their stock market profits, their gold investments, etc. Taxes don't count in their book.

It sickens me and I'm going to have to cut these "friends" off soon I can tell.

Last time I heard they were looking to move to a place where there are few taxes to be paid.

My reply to this was: I think I'll pay my garbage bill and shut the f' up rather than move to some hell hole somewhere!

[olegramps]

31. I HAD a friend that was a Republican.

His wife ran a beauty pallor in their home and demanded cash to avoid taxes. They build on to their home and didn't take out a building permit to avoid real estate taxes. He wanted to be payed under the table. They always bitched about taxes and how the socialist Democrats were going to break the nation. But they sure didn't waste any time signing up for SS and Medicare and every other assistance program that they could bilk.

[CountAllVotes]

33. same story here re: these "people"

... or what the hell the are!

They hired someone to repair/fix a deck in their yard UNDER THE TABLE. Then something went wrong and hey, guess what?

They have no recourse being the person they hired was not licensed nor a contractor and oh yeah, they HATE anything "union". According to their logic, it is unions that are the reason for all of the problems in the USA. They'll never learn will they?

These freaks reap what they sow!

Maybe some day they'll get it, but not likely anytime soon. Nope.

[magical thyme]

48. suggest they move to Somalia

no taxes or evil government in Somalia to worry their teeny brains about. No regulations, either. GOP heaven, is Somalia!

[rufus dog]

7. I haven't been able to find a second source on this yet.

Assuming he said it there are very few logical explanations for the comment.

1. Harry is just shooting off his mouth - Now I can't think of one other instance where Harry "shot from the hip," but many where he has been extremely cautious with statements.
2. Harry was drunk or stoned - very unlikely that he hangs out after work with the OrangeMan.
3. Harry has seen some leaked records.

If I was forced to put probability on each one it would be .002, .001, 99.997.

[lark]

9. Agree with your logic

and ... Go Niners.

[FreeState]

34. He's also a safe attack dog for Obama

He's LDS, he can't claim religious bias.

[JustAnotherGen]

35. Exactly

Thats another reason he played this well. And he's not up for re-election. So he can say and do whatever he damn well pleases.

[magical thyme]

50. huh? there's a very logical reason for this statement

he's baiting Romney. Show us the money, Romney. Show us the money.

Even GOP members are stating publicly that Romney has to release more years of tax returns. From years *before* he was planning his candidacy.

[pnwmom]

10. Give 'em hell, Harry.Said by Harry in that soft little voice of his -- it's that much more powerful.

[hifiguy]

11. I suspect that Harry has put his finger on

the crux of the biscuit. Mittwit can stonewall and be thought a thief and a cheat or disclose and prove the fact. He's badly screwn either way. Mwahahahaha!

[NYC Liberal]

13. Awesome...now Romney has to provide proof if he wants to debunk it.

Or he can ignore it and imply that it's true.

[reformist2]

14. C'mon Mitt... if you've got nothing to be ashamed of, release the forms!

[lumberjack_jeff]

15. Good for Harry.

It's incumbent on Romney to prove him wrong, by releasing his tax returns.

"I know he's not a pig-fucker, but I want to see him deny it."

[hifiguy]

20. One of LBJ's classic lines.

[aquart]

19. Harry may well be right.

Oh, that is entertaining.

[HIlton Brackett]

21. Harry's You tube

http://www.savetubevideo.com/?v=ZSNuyBvSEzE&feature=player_embedded

[rufus dog]

27. thanks

When I was checking this morning I couldn't find anything.

[kimbutgar]

22. Will the LDS get mad at Reid for exposing his fellow Mormon rmoney?

I hope Reid doesn't get in trouble with the folks in Salt Lake City. The Bishops are hoping for a Mormon President and Reid is not helping them in their goal.

[BlueToTheBone]

37. He has another 4 years in the Senate

so it won't matter. He's about retirement age, so why would he care?

[TNLib]

40. I'm thinking all this is going to play out to ultimately feed into the Mormon stereo type

That they avoid, taxes, lie cheat and steal.

I've been talking to some conservative minded people and this is what they think of mormons.

In my opinion Romney is toast.

[Ruby the Liberal]

23. Harry doesn't "shoot from the hip"

Not the man's style.

This story just keeps getting better by the day.

[arely staircase]

24. ann richards vs. claytie williams 1990 redux

i have been saying this for some time now. there are going to be years in there in which he paid zero in taxes. ann richard's opponent for texas governor let it slip (the weekend before the election) that he, though obscenely wealthy, paid no taxes in one of the previous years. williams had been shooting himself in the mouth for some time, which had caused the race to tighten. but that last minute confession on taxes is what did him in. the richards camp went up with wall to wall radio ads the last weekend before the election - and she won in a sqeaker.

[tclambert]

25. "Only the little people pay taxes."

--Leona Helmsley, aka inmate number 15113-054 (convicted for tax evasion).

[LynneSin]

26. And you think that would scare away right-wing nut jobs from voting for him?

Seriously!

[Amonester]

28. "Governor, will you release more tax returns?"

"mmm.... Maybe.. huh, huh, huh..."

BOO-HOOO-HOOOO-BOOO-HOO

[Johnny2X2X]

29. Worse

This is bound to be really ugly when his returns get leaked. No taxes? Try tax refunds and rebates due to the corporate welfare he made his fortune off from. If Romney's full returns come out, he will be replaced as the candidate before the convention. He's not hiding them for no reason, the 2 years he released were the best cases he could find.

This is getting legs, and no one will be able to defend zero taxes or huge government subsidies that Mitt took to get rich.

[magical thyme]

46. the only reason the 2 years he released were the best he could find

was because he already knew he was planning to run when he filed them. So they are not representative of businessjerk Mitt Romney, they are representative of candidate Mitt Romney.

No different when he told his gardening company to make sure any gardeners sent to his properties were *legal* Mexicans. Not because he personally cared about immigration issues, but because he was running for office!

[DearAbby]

32. Oh shit....THEY KNOW SOMETHING

the relentless pounding on this issue...A McCain Staffer could have told them what was in those 23 yrs worth of returns..and why McCain did pick Palin over Romney

[magical thyme]

45. there are only 2 ways to get rich: make and sell cool stuff, or steal

We all know Mittens never made anything in his life that was cool.

That leaves stealing.

Palin over Romney means nothing. McCain's conservative credentials were in question because he still worked across the aisle. Hell, he got into drinking contests with Hillary (guess who won?! )

McCain needed rabid rightwing red meat to lock down his base. A waffling, pro choice, Mormon governor from Massachusetts was no help.

On the other hand, there's nothing that says that some McCain staffer didn't leak those returns to the other side....hmmm.....

[hifiguy]

53. I am increasingly convinced that someone in the McCain campaign

had a crisis of conscience and provided Mittwit's tax returns, or a summary thereof, to the Obama campaign. And yes, the fact that Grampy saw all of this shit and chose Griftin' Princess Dumbass tells you everything you need to know about Rmoney.

[treestar]

38. That would undercut the right wing talking point that the rich pay most of the taxes

[hifiguy]

47. When Harry Reid, the soul of caution, says something like this

he has rock-solid, iron-clad proof. That was provided by the WH. Harry knows everything that the WH knows about this. Bye, Mittwit.

[Honeycombe8]

51. Go, Harry, go! SOMEONE should say these things outright instead of just hinting. nt

[brewens]

52. Nice bait job Harry. Now we will see if Robme takes the cheese. I don't think he

can. He must know he goes down if we see those returns. Either way I hope it does him in. He will still get all the real right-wing vote. It should kill him with everyone else.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

54. And Romney is admitting he paid no taxes, through his silence

He could refute the accusation and tell us that he did pay and at what percentage. But I have a feeling he had his accountant deduct all his campaign expenses, for example, which came to $45 million of his own money in 2008 and paid zero taxes in that year. If he was willing to release his 2010 return showing his rate was only 13.9 %, you know if probably less in previous years. If his 2010 return was outrageous, the ones he doesn't want to release must be far more damaging.