Or both
The other day, I made a list of the things that scare me about Mitt Romney’s stated policies:
• He wants tax breaks for the rich larger than George W. Bush’s breaks
• He feels the president can attack Iran any time for any reason
• He wants to overturn Roe v. Wade and defund Planned Parenthood taking basic reproductive health from millions of women
• He wants to write bigotry against gays and lesbians into the Constitution with an anti-gay marriage amendment
• He believes he can make life for millions of undocumented mothers, daughters and grandmothers miserable enough that they will eventually deport themselves
• He won’t end tax breaks for companies that send American jobs overseas
An impressively awful list.
Now that’s is what he says he’ll do. What Mitt won’t reveal is just as frightening:
• His tax returns since he began running for President in 2006
• The names of his campaign bundlers, breaking a bipartisan tradition
• Whether he would deport DREAM-eligible students and veterans
• Which deductions he would eliminate to pay for his massive new tax breaks for the rich
• An independent accounting of his time at Bain Capital
• An explanation of what offshore tax instruments he’s using and how they may help him avoid paying taxes
• Why he isn’t disclosing his full family holdings, including a corporation in Bermuda he signed over to his wife the day he became governor of Massachusetts
Did anyone mention to Mitt that he’s been running for president for most of the last decade?
Mitt’s father George Romney famously advised Mitt to make enough money that he can run of office without risk to his family. That’s advice Mitt took and his assets are so vast that they apparently can’t even fit in the United States of America.
This is a point I make to wealthy Americans: Mitt doesn’t just think he shouldn’t play by the rules of the 99 percent. He believes in special treatment for the 0.01 percent. These plutocrats are most often born well off, pay a fraction of the tax rates that the regular rich do and often make their money by playing with money, not working.
When George Romney was running for president, he famously released twelve years of tax returns to prove he was hiding nothing from the American people. That’s a lesson Mitt should have learned from his father.
Between what we know about Mitt and what we don’t, it’s a wonder to me why any American who isn’t related to him would be willing to vote for him.
[Romney image credit: Anne C. Savage]
