I am no fan of Mitt Romney’s, but there’s something unsavory about bullying candidates for office into releasing their tax returns. I don’t know exactly where this began, but it should be recognized that candidates have the right to say NO when this demand is made of them.
Where exactly does this end? What’s to stop a candidate from agreeing to submit to an audit – and shaming the rest of the field into so doing? And who gets to do the audit?
Romney’s mealy-mouthed admission that he pays maybe 15 percent on his federal taxes – because the vast majority of his income is from investments – does bring to light the inherent inequalities in the current tax system. Hopefully, the cries for a simplification of tax policy, and a reduction of its use for social engineering purposes, will register with our representatives in Washington (we should live so long) – but this is another program I’m not interested in debating here, at least today.
But I wish he would have said, when the demand was made of him, “I’ll think about it, but it’s really none of your business.”
If this is such a big deal, maybe there should be legislation REQUIRING all those who run for public office to release their latest tax returns. At least it would level the playing field and call a halt to this political dance.
These days, thanks to Zaba, Intelius, etc., you can find an awful lot about any individual just by paying the freight and doing one of those “premium” searches. The media – at least those who can afford it – should do that with all candidates running for local offices.
As for Mr. Romney, he would do much better in these debates if he actually answered a question now and then – but again, that’s another program.
No comments:
Post a Comment