Romney’s Taxes – And Why He Shouldn’t Release Them

Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, 2008 US presidential candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anyone on the right side of the aisle who thinks Mitt should release his taxes is a moron-I repeat a complete moron, and here’s why: Romney’s taxes were prepared by a licensed, insured CPA, and probably one with a JD to boot. Guys who make that kind of money don’t go to H&R Block.

Throughout time, Americans have been able, by law, to have “off-shore” accounts. Switzerland is a great place to do it but in the last 10 years, the left have attacked Switzerland, and thus made it impossible to open accounts there as American Citizens. In fact, for any foreigner to open accounts in Switzerland, there must be a reason-usually, because a business entity you are a principal of does business there. So, Americans have gone elsewhere to places like the Bahamas, Panama, The Isle of Jersey, and so on. Many countries won’t take American bank accounts, for example Singapore, where they are just not that enamored with our government and don’t want the hassle so it’s actually against the law for a US Citizen to open accounts there.

Now, all of that said, here’s the simple part-and this is why this will be a short article. When an American opens an account here in the US, they are vetted by their bank, through government controlled databases, and through public ones as well. They are looked at as credit risks, whether they have bounced checks, and if they have committed any type of financial crime that would prohibit them from holding a bank account in the US. At the time the account is opened, one’s social security number is required, as the bank will immediately report to the IRS, the rest of Treasury, and of course the Federal Reserve, that you have opened an account using that SS#.

When one opens an off-shore account, there’s a whole new set of rules, but they are nearly identical. The bank does what we in banking call KYC (Know Your Client), which can take months if you are not connected, or have no other international bank accounts. They also search you under INTERPOL and NCIC databases, to make sure once again you are not a felon, and specifically haven’t been convicted in any jurisdiction around the world for financial misdeeds of any type. Lastly, they report directly to the IRS, Treasury, The Federal Reserve, The ECB, and any other jurisdiction where that international bank does business. Therefore, when you open an account off-shore, the IRS immediately knows what money is in it. They also know from whence it came (as the Federal Reserve digitally marks every single USD based wire that is issued the world over-and knows of every one. Furthermore, going back more than a decade, the IRS looks at every SWIFT (international wire that is not run by the FED), no matter who sends it. Yes, you heard right. The SWIFT system gives up all wire information to the IRS, whether the sender or recipient are US Citizens or not.

So, the United States Treasury Department knows where every dollar came from in Mitt’s off-shore accounts. The money, once taxed, and then wired has “meta-tags” which follow it from account to account, which specify taxes paid, and in which jurisdiction, etc. All of this is known by the lefties demanding his tax returns. They claim they want to know if he committed any crimes, yet, in order to send money to an off-shore account, your bank will require you to prove you have paid taxes in the jurisdiction where you are taxed-in Mitt’s case, the US. Now think about this: would IRS sit back and not prosecute and take Mitt’s dough if he had committed crimes? Would the IRS not audit him fully if they thought Mitt guilty of Tax Evasion? Of course they would. It is a proven fact that the IRS is directed on a regular basis to harass conservatives.

The moral of the story is simple. Mr. Obama and company are trying to use the “evil rich dude” argument to sway voters away from Mitt, because they know he is squeaky clean. There’s no real wrong doing there, so they are going to trot out the fact he built fortunes, working WITHIN THE US SYSTEM OF LAWS, which is something that the left doesn’t do. With the whole of the Obama Administration and its most ardent supporters in the DNC getting dinged on a regular basis for tax evasion, it would seem that this is just another case of the pot trying to call a stainless steel kettle black. In the end, Mitt’s tax filings are just going to show that as he became more astute in buying valuable assets for Bain, he made more dough as Bain exited those assets. Isn’t it amazing in a capitalist society, the Marxists can blatantly use capitalism to demonize all of us who are examples of the American Dream?
Lastly, I think Mr. Obama may have a hard time telling Mitt “You didn’t build that”…so I’d be careful what I wish for if I were The President. The outcome of Mitt releasing all of his taxes would show a guy who made a bunch of sacrifices coming up the ladder, who probably donated more to charity than the entirety of Obama and his entire “posse,” and a guy who doesn’t have questionable real estate deals with convicted felons like Rezko in his past!