This post appeared in my short-lived site Romneyomics.org. It existed because I was interested in an ongoing dialog of how Romney’s policies would affect the economy, combined with my belief that this man had nothing in common with the average American. An ongoing series of Romney posts at this site would have grown tedious, and too political. That said, when Obama won a second term, the site’s existence became moot. This was one article I had published which linked from JoeTaxpayer.com, and I’ve moved it here to avoid a bad link.
As both of my readers (sorry, are there 4 yet?) know, the democrats have requested that Romney produce 5 years worth of returns, nothing new there. But. yesterday, I’m watching CNN, and our President is telling the crowd during a speech, if you see Mitt Romney later, ask him why he won’t show five years worth of returns.
In a “yes, my life is strange†moment, a couple hours later, I’m in a restaurant on Nantucket. A friend tells me Mitt Romney is now on the island. Ok. Small island but a hundred restaurants. As we’re finishing our meal, the eagle has landed. The kid hands me her phone to snap a photo of my thumb and Romney. Right after the shot, I call out “five years returns, sir.†Secret service tells me to quiet down, so I wait till he’s out the door, still ignoring me and I repeat my line to mild applause from within the restaurant. I go back to my table and ask my wife and daughter what the odds are. They both respond “One in three.†It’s a family joke, as I’ve had some remarkable coincidences happen over the years.
This issue may be the one thing that wont go away. If, in fact, his average tax rate turns out to be 13%, just produce the returns. A capital gain rate of 15% and some large donations (good for him, no criticism regarding lowering your taxes this way) and his rate may have been 13%. But unless and until he shows his returns, it will be like when a certain moron real estate developer kept going on camera asking POTUS to produce his birth certificate. For a $25 donation I got a “Made in US†mug showing a miniature copy of that certificate.
I know you heard me, Mr Romney, and I know you’ll hear it from others, show the returns, Five Years Returns!
Update – The above occurred Saturday night; on Sunday morning my wife Googled [Romney Millies Nantucket] to find a brief newswire story about the visit. AP referenced this with “Several Millie’s patrons wished Romney well. But one man shouted “five years’ returns.†He was alluding to Democrats’ demands that Romney release five years of his tax returns instead of two.†Pretty cool, but I did call him “Sir†as indicated in the post title.