Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

A month or so ago, he said, a person who had invested with Bain Capital called his office.

"Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," Reid recounted the person as saying.

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

"You guys have said his wealth is $250 million," Reid went on. "Not a chance in the world. It's a lot more than that. I mean, you do pretty well if you don't pay taxes for 10 years when you're making millions and millions of dollars."

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/harry-reid-romney-taxes_n_1724027.html

[cosmicone]

1. That would be the October surprise! n/t

[montanacowboy]

2. OMG

well, now he will have to release them to either prove or disprove

I hope Harry hasn't stepped in deep doo doo but OMG please let this be true

he could be worth a B I L L I O N $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Gman]

33. The response:

"This kind of wild and mean spirited innuendo have no place in politics. This is a new low. Mr Romney is insulted and demands an apology for these baseless accusations.".

Or something very similar.

[skip fox]

53. But the fact that the issues has been out there since July 12 or so and the response non-existent

might speak volumes!

[Berlum]

3. Typical AWOL Republican tax-(and draft)-dodger

Republicans just don't do citizen responsibility when it comes to the USA.

Now Swiss Bank Accounts and Cayman Islands tax shelters, that's
what Republicans are all about. Me me me me me me.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

42. "No skin in the game"

As Michele Bachmann would say.

[freshwest]

47. Good one.

[1StrongBlackMan]

4. What's that? ...

Oh, another of the millipede's shoes dropping!

[AzDar]

5. I am soooo hoping this is true... but cannot understand how it could be. Did Romney honestly think

he could get away with this?

[berni_mccoy]

6. The truth will come out.

If he paid no taxes while making millions, then there is no way of hiding that.

[jn2375]

7. bwhahahha read what else Reid said

"We feel comfortable in the Senate," he said. "Where the problem is, is this: Because of the Citizens United decision, Karl Rove and the Republicans are looking forward to a breakfast the day after the election. They are going to assemble 17 angry old white men for breakfast, some of them will slobber in their food, some will have scrambled eggs, some will have oatmeal, their teeth are gone. But these 17 angry old white men will say, 'Hey, we just bought America. Wasn't so bad. We still have a whole lot of money left.'"

[Melissa G]

11. deserves it's own thread.

please post with a link so I can rec.

[liberal N proud]

8. Can't release them if didn't pay them.

[johnd83]

9. It actually doesn't matter if this is 100% accurate

Just make the attack ads and keep playing them as we have learned from the GOP.

[JDPriestly]

40. It is far more likely that Romney paid no taxes and feels no shame about it

than that Obama was born in Kenya within a few years of the Kenyatta uprisings.

In fact, it is from very possible to quite likely that Romney paid no taxes at least in some of those years.

It is also possible that some of his income during those years came from some of his current donors' businesses.

There are a number of other possibilities.

The Obama administration is just oozing this information, but I'm becoming more and more certain that Obama's friends know just what they are doing.

[mugwort2]

45. Possibility of Mitt Romney not paying any taxes.

I'm not terribly surprised the possibility of Mitt Romney not paying any income taxes with so much of his money in foreign banks. Show some respect for Mitt Romney. He can't show any tax returns if he did not pay any. Come on isn't that terribly unfair of you or anyone to complain.
On the other hand , seriously I think its terribly unfair for anybody in the financial bracket at Romney not to pay taxes.
[link:http://societyfordaintydamsels.com|

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

10. Hey! Where did this elephant come from!

I think we all know that whatever is in Willard tax returns spells the end of his political career. It really could be that Mitt didn't pay taxes in one or more years, that or some of the deductions that he claimed were legal, but massively embarrassing.

Remember that Mittens' line is that he paid all the taxes that were owed. I believe him on that one. The tax system is so rigged toward the wealthy that it is altogether possible that he paid zero taxes. In addition to disqualifying him to be President, I hope this revelation will result in a serious discussion about the unfairness of the tax code.

[lillypaddle]

12. Never thought I'd say this

but I can see where "Sarah was the better candidate."

[Mnemosyne]

18. Seriously, me either!

[Jessy169]

19. No wonder McCain "didn't see anything" wrong with Mitt's taxes

There wasn't anything to see!

[DallasNE]

13. Also, Romney Was Able To Pass On To His Kids Another $100 Million Tax-Free

And for tax purposes Romney still pays the taxes on the earnings from that trust fund, as I understand it. In 2010 Romney reported nearly $22 million in income. That would mean that he was averaging 10% on his portfolio if he was worth $220 million. Then his estimate for 2011 had him with similar income. Generally, things that are tax sheltered earn much less than things without a tax shelter. In other words, it would normally take about $600 million in investiments to earn what Romney is reporting as income for tax purposes.

[BigDemVoter]

14. If true, that rich b*tch is TOAST!

[Andy823]

15. This says it all

"He didn't pay taxes for 10 years! Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain," said Reid. "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?

Notice Reid did NOT say it was a fact, he said he was not certain and he said Romney "CAN'T" release those returns because of how it would look. Even if he really did pay taxes all those years, he will have to show his returns for people to believe him, and if this is NOT the reason he isn't showing them, then there is something else in their that would be just as bad. Also if he claimed he lived in another state when he voted for Brown in Mass. that would be voter fraud and that is a felony!

Seems to me like Reid is putting Romney into a no win situation here, but also covering himself by saying out front he is not certain about Romney not paying taxes for 10 years.

Now if Romney can only get through the convention, become the crowned nominee, and then democrats can go after him again about his taxes it will be the perfect storm, for Romney!

[Igel]

27. He didn't even say the guy had any basis for saying it.

A lot of people here have said the same thing. Investors with Bain didn't get a private showing of every past CEO's tax return any more than DUers did.

But Reid assumes that having invested at some point with Bain gives the caller inside knowledge, that being a Bain investor is relevant. I love manipulating Gricean maxims; it can be fun if done innocently. I don't like being manipulated through the use of Gricean maxims.

[coalition_unwilling]

30. "Gricean maxims' - I had to look it up and still am not sure I understand

exactly how it applies here.

Care to explain? Not being snarky but seems a tad obscure.

[japple]

39. I had to look it up, too, but I think this is the gist of it.

"The Gricean Maxims are a way to explain the link between utterances and what is understood from them." This is from wikipedia

In other words: "Mr. Romey, have you stopped beating your wife?"

Edit to add: If I've got this all wrong, please elucidate!! Many thanks.

[Yavin4]

16. I Think That It's Worse Than Not Paying Taxes

I bet he got refunds as well.

[bucolic_frolic]

17. Think outside the box

I would suspect a lot of anti-government enthusiasts pay no taxes.

Some people won't even use the US Postal Service because it's
connected to the government.

Wonder what's in those returns. Trips to Argentina?

[onehandle]

20. Oh man, he's gotta release the fuckers now. nt

[shoreline]

21. Well played, Senator Reid...

Reminiscent of the story about LBJ's response to an extremely unflattering and probably untrue report concerning a political opponent: "I don't care if it's true, I just want to hear him deny it."

[msanthrope]

31. You can say pigfucking here. Welcome to DU! nt

[nolabear]

22. That's a damned big statement from Reid if it isn't true.

I can't imagine he'd say it w/o some good reason. This could get good.

[Cali_Democrat]

23. Even if it isn't true, I don't think it matters

The point is to get Romney to release his returns. Even if he did pay taxes for those 10 years, there's probably other unseemly and/or illegal crap in there.

What Reid did was brilliant.

[nichomachus]

25. All Reid said

Was that someone else told him. If it's not true, then Reid can just trot out the line from Casablanca "I was misinformed."

[Jessy169]

28. And now Mitt has got to be really paranoid

Reid says he got a call from "a person who had invested with Bain Capital". Romney MUST be wondering what else former Bain Capital investors may or may not have told Harry Reid. His mind must be in overdrive trying to figure out who at Bain might be ratting him out, and if there are others who might spill even more damaging beans on Romney before November. It must be horrible to be Mitt right now.

[Enrique]

24. nice hardball from Harry

a little Mormon-on-Mormon violence.

[nichomachus]

26. Harry learned a lot

From his days palling around with the mob.

[firehorse]

29. He probably got a refund in addition to paying no taxes.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

32. The harder they fall

If Romney thought a trip overseas was going to divert attention from his tax problems at home, well....guess not. It's been a bad July for the MittNit, and bound to get worse. Layers of lies always, always come back to bite us.

Good on Reid - it was a brilliant move.

[Gothmog]

34. WTG Senator Reid

I applaud Senator Reid's actions. The tax return issues will be alive and well for the debates.

I imagine that Romney's VP candidate had to provide more than two years worth of returns and they will be asked about these returns when the time comes. Romney is going to have to admit that he looked at more than two years of returns or admit that he did a weak job of vetting

[cleduc]

35. July 12 Video of Reid in Senate claiming Romney's basically paid no taxes for 12 years

[longship]

36. Rope-a-dope!

Harry was a golden gloves boxer.

Nice move Sen Reid.

[truthisfreedom]

37. And he waited a month to tell us this because...

He had the guy's story completely vetted so as to not step in it.

[high density]

38. We're finally playing by the Republican rulebook and I like it

Just throw shit out there and let them spend a week denying it.

[Octafish]

41. GOP presumptive nominee belongs in prison.

BAIN, Romney, Spooks and Death Squads

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021028651

[BREMPRO]

43. i smell karl rove...

this is the perfect plant.. have an anonymous source make a claim that he paid no taxes .. so when they finally come out.. if they do they don't looks so bad because he paid "all the taxes required by law" and it's more than zero.... need corroboration on this one... who is the source and are they credible.. anyone who worked for bain is suspicious and why would they know anything about Mitt's tax returns? The other possibility is Reid is overstating or making this up to put romney in a box.. if he doesn't release them this suspicion is always there...

don't know if the tax returns matters if the economy stalls..even if it is the Republican's fault for blocking jobs bills and wasting their legislation time trying to trash Obama and ACA..

[alp227]

44. So who's that investor? Otherwise this is just hearsay.

Maybe that investor might come out in October and do a TV interview, who knows? But I'm somewhat skeptical for now.

[Ruby the Liberal]

46. Doesn't matter who it was.

Some guy who Willard bragged to about his brilliant tax attorneys who sheltered A, B and C, figured out how to grow a $100m IRA and pass another $100 to his kids' trust, tax free, bla bla bla.

No need for "some guy" to go on camera. The allegation is out there, and Willard can easily rebut it by releasing the returns. Until he does, the license to speculate it just gaining more and more value.

[NorthCarolina]

48. Probably got a refund though. nt

[sarcasmo]

49. I can hear the debate question now. What percentage did each candidate pay

in income tax for the last ten years? Mitt the Twit, blah, blah, blah, don't need to release tax information, Cayman Islands, blah, blah, blah.

[ellenfl]

50. how would an investor know? eom

[djean111]

51. Maybe Mitt's ability to engineer the avoidance of taxes

was part of the sales pitch? I would be VERY surprised if it wasn't, really.

[ButterflyBlood]

52. Reid is using LBJ's old "Let the bastard deny it" trick

Win-win. Either Romney releases his tax returns and whatever's in them, or Romney keeps denying this without releasing them and no one believes him. Brilliant.