I have no doubt that part of the reason Mitt Romney doesn't want to release his tax returns before 2010 is that he doesn't want people to know how obscenely rich he is and how little he has paid in taxes (if anything). I'm also sure there are all sorts of ridiculous deductions and credits he has claimed on his returns that will provide fodder for the Obama campaign to portray him as an out-of-touch, pampered, spoiled rich kid who gets tax breaks for things like dressage horses. But I have a hunch there may be something much more damaging lurking in Mr. Romney's tax returns, and his refusal to release any of his returns before 2010 supports this hunch. So I am begging, pleading, exhorting someone from the traditional media to ask Mitt Romney this particular question, in front of a camera: Governor Romney, have you ever participated, or applied to participate, in any IRS amnesty program for undisclosed foreign accounts?
--Follow me across the fold--
The IRS has always had an informal "amnesty" policy for tax payers who affirmatively come forward to disclose previously unreported income. But beginning in 2009, the IRS set up a formal amnesty program to permit persons who failed to report foreign accounts, as required by law, to disclose those accounts, report income thereon, pay the taxes due and pay a relatively modest penalty (compared to the penalties that would otherwise be imposed upon IRS discovery of the undisclosed foreign accounts and income). In return, the IRS promised not to criminally prosecute persons seeking amnesty for tax evasion. The New York Times has written about this amnesty program here, for instance, and as noted in that article, the program followed the US government's actions against Swiss and other foreign banks, most prominently UBS, that conspired with their clients to hide assets and taxable income from the IRS.
Mitt's already shown himself willing to play fast and loose on his tax returns -- for instance, his decision to file as a resident of Utah instead of Massachusetts, although he certified for purposes of Massachusetts election law that he was a resident of the state and filed state income tax forms as a Massachusetts resident. As with his service as Bain's CEO, he "retroactively" declared his Massachusetts residency by filing amended returns.
It's not a stretch to speculate, therefore, that Mitt may have failed (or "forgot") in the last 10 years or so to disclose on his tax forms at least some of his accounts in Switzerland, the Cayman Islands and/or other foreign tax havens preferred by the rich and greedy. And if he participated in an IRS amnesty program related to those accounts, his tax forms would show it, including previously undisclosed income and penalties assessed.
Someone needs to put a camera in this guy's face and ask him this question, stat. And as a bonus, the reporter should follow up by asking him whether his was among the approximately 52,000 names of US taxpayers that UBS and other Swiss banks disclosed to the IRS in connection with the IRS's suit against UBS and other Swiss banks related to their conspiracy to commit tax fraud. I want to see Mitt squirm.