Why Romney's Tax Returns Matter:

The singular issue that this tax record scandal is inescapably intertwined with is Romney's character - or lack there of.
"Is RINO trustworthy?"
"Does he respect or even CARE about the American people?"
"Is he ethical? Or does he base his business decisons on loopholes and what he can get away with?"
These are questions that the American people are asking themselves during this vetting process of the presumptive Republican nominee.
Rmoney's tax returns would go along way in answering these questions and the fact that he refuses to give the American people the information we need DOES NOT bode well for the type of character that this man has!

We do know that the write-off for Ms Romney's horse was over $70,000.00 That is ONE write off which totals more than most people earn per year....whether or not it is "legal" seem irrelevant when considering that the person who can claim something like this is asking for a job that makes decisions for those who make far less.

YES ! He should show his tax forms....I am pretty sure he did nothing illegal but when the American public has a chance to see just what he can do with his money LEGALLY...they will not be happy. Especially since his platform is running on cutting more taxes for himself and those in his income bracket.

Here are a few documents. http://gawker.com/5933641

#1--Some people might ask those questions and other people are not going to care. Romney's choice of Ryan is a matter of getting the base together. Obama's campaign will try to make a lot out of this issue to the so-called 'independent' voters. How much impact that will have remains to be seen. To be honest I find this posturing over income tax returns every election cycle to be all about form and very little about substance. Part and parcel of the usual game playing between the two major party candidates. Better if more voters were to try to figure out the ins and outs of their respective economic, domestic, foreign etc. policies. This is mainly distraction to me. Personally I don't think Romney has a clue--his main motivation for being POTUS is just because he wants to be POTUS. Obama's first four years IMO are a failure--a good part of which is self inflicted.

#4

Elections have always been a popularity contest. And voters tend to support the popular candidates.

#5--true enough. Lots of people still like Barack. Romney has got to be one of the least popular major candidates ever. At least at this point in time I think Obama comes in over 300 electoral votes when all is said and done. The Republicans have a hard time fielding a candidate that appeals to all the different fragmentary divisions that fall under their umbrella. And at the moment with the momentum of their party trending harder and harder to the right--they turn off a lot of independents--as far as minority voters--blacks, hispanics, gays they've pretty much driven them away.

And truthfully I think Obama has more intellectual substance than Romney and even in respect to political experience he beats Romney handily again--and beats him again on charisma--and is way quicker off the draw with the pithy remark. It's like Muhammed Ali vs. Jerry Quarry.

All that being said--lots of people hated Ali and rooted passionately for the guys like Quarry. And again--Barack's first four years has been a severe disappointment to at least some of those who voted for him last time. To be honest the Democratic party looks very conservative to me these days.

I agree. I may vote for a third-party candidate, simply because at this point my only reason for selecting Obama would be that he isn't Romney...not the best of reasons.

Obama is clearly the superior politician, and Romney isn't liked by many within his own party. Reasons enough for the disparity in polls. Reagan may have been the doom of the Republican Party; by bringing in groups that were united only in their dislike of social reform, he changed the Republicans from being merely the party of the wealthy to the party of wealthy...let's say eccentrics.

But there are a lot of failures in Obama's Presidency that I find hard to live with. From a more secretive government that sanctions assassinations of U.S. citizens, to refusing to close Guatanamo Bay (something that Obama could have done whatever Congressional opposition might have existed), to refusing to even investigate financial mis-deeds; it's a pretty long list. (Even if you defended Obama by saying he had to deal with a hostile Congress, there's a lot he could have done...and didn't.)

#7--I had a lot of hope that he would be different but to me it's more of the same old same old party politics. There's been no real change in direction which I think that was badly needed then and is desperately needed now. I think the final straw for me was the Wisconsin thing--however anyone feels about Gov. Walker's attempting to emasculate public unions in that state--there were thousands of volunteers out getting signatures in the cold and the wet and they were mostly people who would vote for Barack. Maybe not a superhuman effort but it was a big effort on the part of a lot of people and they spent a lot of their free time and some took a lot of abuse to get the recall vote and Obama just ignored the whole thing from the beginning to the end. Cardinal rule for any politician--'Never turn your back on your own supporters'. In any event I'm betting he survives. Between Romney's unpopularity and the direction the Republican party is going in he's going to have to screw up hard to lose.

Here's a reasonable prediction that Mitt Romney will win the 2012 election.

Robert

Great breakdowns Bruce and Iriley--and thanks to Theoria for the numbers. To me, this is Animal Farm--the idea that we"re all equal but some are more equal than others. I think Romney means well, but in the end he still wants to sidestep the annoying rules that common people have to follow. That"s fine, really, but I have a hard time believing that he"d act any differently as President. I think he sees serving the elite as a good thing (both for them AND the country) and I cannot imagine him ever standing up to the very very rich for the sake of the middle class.

#9: I don't buy it. Mitt Romney is the Bob Dole of the current election season. He's just a placeholder until the next nominee and you'd need to overdose on Viagra to even remotely get excited about him. I'm sure there are a lot of other complicated factors, but I think it mostly comes down to personality. And let's face it, creepy cult leader beats shifty used-car salesman every time.

“Romney didn’t pay his taxes!”

You’re confusing him with someone else.

I'm disappointed there's no snappy term for people who demand to see Romney's tax returns like Obama's "birther" critics have been bestowed.