If you hide something, does it not follow that you have something to hide?

Well…considering you can’t hide no-thing, then yes, because you are hiding some-thing. lol

Well, if we’re slicing the semantics thin, there is a difference between trying to conceal something and choosing not to bring something out into view.

What is the difference @thorninmud?

He is more likely hiding his donations to things like pro choice and the Mormon Church, his deductions for things like the horses, and all the accounts in the Caymans.

Hiding is active, not revealing is passive.

Like everyone else, I have paperwork in my house that has information that I wouldn’t want just anyone to see. It would seem strange to say that I’m hiding that paperwork. I really haven’t gone out of my way to keep anyone from seeing it. If someone were to knock on my door and ask to see my last credit card statement, I’d tell them to get lost. Am I now hiding it, just because I don’t obligingly go and get it?

No body cares about Romney’s tax returns. Democrats want to make it an issue because they have little else to talk about. Most politicians do not publish thier tax returns. Are they also hiding something? We have enough information to gauge his wealth, more of the same adds nothing to the debate.

It’s pretty pathetic to think that this is the biggest issue Democrats have to defame Romney. Keep talking about it while the election passes you by.

It’s going to be a looong season.

Hmm. Is it hiding something when you keep something private? In our society, we generally consider finances to be a private thing. It is only politicians running for President that are expected to reveal their private finances.

Romney is not hiding anything because there should be no expectation that he reveal his private finances. There has come to be such an expectation because politicians in the past used their finances as an argument to show they are ordinary people who have done nothing wrong.

Romney’s problem is not that he would have done anything wrong, but that he is not an ordinary person, nor even close to one, financially. He has decided that he will be worse off if people see how little he has paid in taxes (13% per year, at least) compared to most of the rest of us with far smaller incomes. It will make the unfairness issue very clear.

As it is, we know he pays a smaller portion of his income than the rest of us, but we don’t know how bad it is. We also don’t know what his deductions look like. @Jaxk has his head buried in the sand if the thinks no one cares. This is an issue that goes to the heart of American notions of fairness. It is a key issue, and one that is very important to talk about. Anyone who thinks this is irrelevant is way out of touch with reality.

Both sides play this game, and EVERYONE seems to play along. The media is so misguided anymore. The Right went as far as to asking for Obama’s academic records when he went to Harvard. They even received the Birth Certificate they had been so eagerly pressing for, and even when they got it….oh its a fake!

It’s the New Corporation’s job to (accurately) inform the uninformed voter…and what do they do? They discuss Romney’s dog who traveled by roof, or Paul Ryan’s workout plan, or that amount of times Obama was golfing this year, or waste time talking about Obama’s birth certificate. This is something maybe that should be on TMZ, but Fox, CNN, MSNBC??! Really?

Sure, Romney is trying to keep his tax returns out of the picture, and why wouldn’t he? Whether he paid 13% or 0%, both disgust me and neither is anything to brag about considering people far less fortunate than he are handing over a larger piece of their income in taxes.

The political climate anymore is such poison, and it’s because the media poisons us with this “Tax issue” or “Birther issue” or “Biden stupid comment issue” or whatever the flavor of the week is. They never talk about substance anymore. And it should be their job to talk about Substance and not these “non-issues” because frankly, I already know our Tax system needs reformed, you don’t need to remind me by telling me how much Romney paid.

The political season should be 1 month…lets say September. They should have the candidates debate each other on their platform and what they believe in. If one accuses the other of lying, there should be several moderators who can fact-check during the debate. It shouldn’t be the jobs of SuperPac’s to fill the voter with “information” because most of the messages are either A.) Irrelevant, B.) Not 100% Truthful, or C.) Both.

@LostInParadise – to answer your question, I suppose Romney has nothing to “hide” so long as he can still get his republican base to vote for him. He better hope this “Tax” charade hasn’t deterred too many moderates from voting for him, and Obama better hope he has an excellent voting turn out, because we know the Republican core is fired up and are going to hit the polls to Make Obama a One-Term President which btw shouldn’t be the job of government elected officials – their job should be to represent the people who voted them in and vote fairly based on what works, and not which political party proposed it. Should be interesting.

@Jaxk every Presidential candidate going back over 40 years has released his tax returns.

You may not know this but the Alternative Minimum Tax was created because Ronald Reagan used his vacation house as a “cattle ranch” that made no money and had so many deductions he paid no taxes. So please, don’t say no one else discloses their tax returns.

Btw – Reagan only released 1 year of tax returns.

Well, I disagree with the definition in this case @thorninmud. He is actively not revealing his tax returns. It’s one thing to ask someone, “Did you no this?” and they say “No,” even though they did. Passive lying would be lying by omission. Nobody said any thing to the culprit, and he didn’t say anything either. That’s passive. It’s how the Jehova’s Witnesses get around their law about never lying.

@wundayatta don’t forget…it was Mitt’s own dad who started the “tradition.’

I, personally, think it’s important. I really don’t want a liar and a cheat, no matter how passive he is, in the White House.

Romney is not releasing his returns to prevent anyone from knowing how long he was taking a salary from Bain, to conceal his taking advantage of loopholes in the tax law, and to stop the outrage from people who think the rich ought to pay more taxes.

That said, if he doesn’t want to release them, that is his business. It is my business who gets my vote.

It’s funny…there is SO much speculation on why he’s hiding, and people are tending to believe it all, that you have to wonder why he doesn’t just show them. Unless there are worse things than paying no taxes, or getting a salary from a company that you supposedly no longer affiliated with, or stashing millions and millions in offshore accounts (which it illegal, btw.)

@thorninmud As a private citizen you are not hiding a thing because you aren’t asking anyone to pay your bills or hand you money. If you were collecting food stamps then you are obliged to show the government your assets and debts and taxes. If you were an accountant and had money hidden away, and I was hiring you then I would say show me how much and I would want to know if you are not milking money from your clients. Of course the accountant isn’t required to do that but I am not required to hire him.
Since he is running for public office, he also does not have to reveal a thing but as citizens we have the right to know if he has a history of milking the government and if he is hiding his money. He can hide his money all he wants, but I for one will not be voting for him on his word alone. If I was running for office, I would have no problem showing my taxes, because I have nothing to hide or be ashamed of. Everyone knows he’s rich. So its not like he is hiding that secret. If he couldn’t be upfront with everything than he shouldn’t have ran for an extremely public office. He can keep his privacy all he wants as a private citizen and inactively not show us what he is making and how much taxes he paid.
But for public office, he is actively hiding his taxes, because he knows once he reveals how little he pays and how wasteful he is with money that even his rich buddies may pause at the election booths.

If some stranger asked me my salary, I would not give the information. I would in fact be hiding it, and I would feel completely justified in doing so. I am not asking whether Romney is obligated to give his tax information. That is a separate question. This is pure semantics. If you refuse to show something then you are hiding it.

I heard he has a wart on his ass and he’s refusing to show us that as well. What’s he trying to hide. The people have a right to see his his ass.

Romney is hiding his returns not for monetary reasons, but because he has always lied about his place of residence. He has previously had to publicly apologize and refile because he lied about being a Massachusetts resident. It is far more likely the reason he will not release them is that he will face federal charges for again lying about his primary residence than it has to do with his tax rate.

@RandomMrAdam out of curiousity, did he reveal many more tax returns than the 1 described as he had other public positions prior to running for president, and those returns were already public?

@Jaxk Calm down. We all see you.

@Dutchess_III I think that @thorninmud is responding the question’s title, in which case he is 100% correct. This is even more true when we consider that “having something to hide” is an idiom with connotations of nefariousness. I hide my wife’s birthday presents so that she doesn’t find them in advance, but that doesn’t mean I have something to hide in the way that the idiomatic phrase suggests.

@Jaxk It’s not just Democrats. Republicans are also telling Romney that he has to release his tax returns. And I’m not sure where you’ve been, but a lot of politicians do release their tax returns. It’s a tradition for presidential candidates, but Senators are starting to do it too. It’s even causing some trouble for Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin right now.

It’s an issue because taxes are a political issue. Ass warts are not. We know he shipped jobs overseas—but how about his money? It’s useful to know what Romney thinks of US tax policy before putting him in charge of the Treasury Department, and actions speak louder than words.

And where are all the “just release the birth certificate and end the speculation” folks now that the issue is Romney’s returns? That would end it all right away—unless he really does have something to hide.

Romney has the right not to give his tax information and Obama has a right to chide him for acting that way. Since the tradition of giving tax return information started with Romney’s father, it is more than a little embarrassing for him. I have to figure that it is less embarrassing than what would be revealed. It is Romney’s call. Looks like a lose-lose proposition to me.

Not necessarily.

It could just be a tactic. A tactic to keep the Dems bitching about it. A tactic to be able to say “see” when he finally reveals his tax returns so it looks like the dems wasted a lot of time talking about nothing. Or, just taking a stand dor what someone thinks is none of anyone else’s business. But, more than likely Romney would prefer he not have to explain his taxes returns when a bunch of questions get thrown out him once revealed.

I don’t see why they have to be made public. Why not have a neutral party review these sorts of things, and if there is any hugely illegal it cam be dealt with.

Most likely he followed the law, paid a low percentage of taxes, gave money to the Mormon church, and Republicans won’t give a crap. I don’t think conservatives are going to be outraged by whatever is revealed and not vote. But, you never know. The republicans who want a flat sales tax and think rich people will wind up paying “more” with the flat sales tax, and who don’t seem to understand the difference between percentage and dollar amount still won’t understand those things. They also tend to be the crowd that thinks letting the wealthy pay less taxes help the wee people get jobs. I don’t think they are the majority of Republicans, but a big enough minority that it matters.

@JLeslie

There is an independent agency that looks at his tax returns. It’s called the IRS. If there was anything wrong they would have caught it. If there was anything illegal, Holder would be more than happy to prosecute.

Romney wants to talk about the economy not his tax returns. The Democrats want to talk about his tax returns not the economy. Both sides are making strategic decisions on how to handle the campaign. The Democrats are betting they can make some headway with the Tax return issue while Romney is betting they can’t. So far I don’t see the polls responding to these attacks. Maybe if the Democrats just scream a little louder it will help. I don’t think so.

@Jaxk There was another Q a day or two saying Romney may have used some sort of forgiveness law to address illegally held money kept off shore. Were you on that Q?

Aside from that I think most Democrats think Republicans will finally get it through their head that the superwealthy pay much less in taxes. They keep saying the wealthy pay more, cite stats like the top 1% pay 80% of the taxes or whatever that number is. It makes us liberals frustrated when bullshit stats like that are thrown around (dems manipulate stats too I know). If a republican simpy is fine that the superwealthy pay fewer taxes as a percentage of the income, fine. But, if they think the superwealthy pay more taxes in income because they paid 17% taxes, which is more money than a guy who makes $100k paying 30%, well, I just fine the stupidity ridiculous. So, like I said, I think the Dems hope finally if they have an example of a Republican who cab really work the system rather than Warren Buffet or Bill Gates it will make an impact and snap some sense into the Republicans, but I don’t think it will work.

@JLeslie

I can’t believe you complain about manipulating stats and then turn around and manipulate stats. The average American does not pay 30% in tax. That might be the top tax bracket for him but not the effective rate. The effective rate for someone earning around $100K is about 8.25% and that is in the top 10% of incomes. You all want to promote this theory that the rich pay less than the poor or middle class but it simply isn’t true. Do some get away with a low rate due to loopholes, of course. It is the loopholes that need to be fixed not the rate. The top .1% pay an average of 24.28% take a look at the effective tax rates, table 8. You may not like it but it is what it is.

@jaxk, none of those state were my stats. That is what I hear Republicans say. Not all republicans, but many around me. They complain with Obama they pay 45%. Then I explain they are clueless about how taxes work, top tax brackets, adjusted gross income, etc. My stats are not exactly the same as yours, but that is besides the point. I usually give them the link to tax brackets. And, I agree loopholes and write offs.

@JLeslie yes. In 2000 something (or 1990 something) the IRS granted amnesty to people hiding money in off shore accounts (which is illegal) if they came clean. Other wise they’d be prosecuted. Romney got in line. I’m on my iPad and can’t navigate like I can on the computer so please Google it and help me out!

Oh and listening to people whine about revealing their taxes-guess none y’all ever started your own business!