I’m calling Rachel Maddow a journalistic Indiana Jones. I just watched her MNSBC show online a few hours ago (I work the graveyard shift) and the first segment on the show had to do with Mitt Romney and his tax returns. If you remember during the Olympics ABC News asked him about his tax rate, essentially if there was a time in the past 10 or so years if he might have paid less than the rate he disclosed on the one return he has released. That tax return had him paying a rate of around 13% to 14%. Romney said he’s not sure, he paid what was legal and he would check out the numbers and get back to them.

It has been three days and the Romney campaign has still not gotten back to ABC News.

By the end of the 18 minute segment it became very clear to me why Romney doesn’t want to release his taxes and the pieces have been reported in the past but not put together to form the whole puzzle. If the information Rachel Maddow and her staff uncovered is correct, and I suspect it is, if the information can take fire in the press and in the minds of the public it will be devastating to his campaign. Taking her information and combining it with other bits of news made the whole refusal to release the tax returns an obvious decision considering what would happen if his taxes were released.

I just want to say again, what will follow will be an explanation of information mostly taken from the Maddow telecast but also other information I have picked up from the long campaign. It is at best speculation based on the information presented.

Back when Romney started running for the 2012 Republican nomination, there was talk about his residency requirement for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 and if he had met the requirements of the state. Obviously, it had been investigated at the time and it was said at the time he was living in what was essentially his son’s extremely large basement. There were jokes about it, since he did have homes in California and Salt Lake City among others at the time, but this information was early in the campaign and was a nice little distraction but not considered major news at the time.

Under Massachusetts law, someone running for major office must be a resident of the state for seven years. This is what the Democrats were contesting when Romney was running for Governor; that he didn’t meet the requirements because, as we well know, he was running the Winter Olympics in Utah and presumably living there. It seems he may have not only told some reporters at the time of the Olympics he was living in Utah but his taxes at the time had his residence in Utah. When Romney went to the elections board in Massachusetts he claimed his returns said he was living there because he had business in the state. One of those businesses was working with Staples, which was connected to Bain as well as having business with Bain. Just like now, he claimed the returns said this but no one on the board saw the tax returns.

We have to take into account a couple of phrases Mitt Romney has stated since running for President this election cycle. He stated in the ABC interview and at other times that it would be silly for him not to take advantage of every deduction possible. It wouldn’t make him a credible President if he paid more taxes than the law allowed. Romney has also stated he did everything under the law as far as his taxes. He has stated clearly that he wasn’t with Bain after 1999. There have been business filings that would seem to contradict that statement, but the possibility of filing errors or just overlooking issues makes it tough to pin the paperwork filing on Romney.

Here is a very important bit of information that was in the segment on Maddow’s show. Mitt Romney was specifically asked about the signature on his tax returns. As everyone who does taxes knows, signing on the line means you agree everything is correct. You aren’t assuming that it is correct. If an accountant does your taxes, when you sign it you are making assurances the information filed is correct. Supposedly Romney gave a typical Romney answer to the question (meaning he didn't directly answer the question), but it was made clear that he did sign the tax forms.

Putting the information from the Rachel Maddow show and the information that has been out there for months, to me the residency on the tax forms spell trouble for Romney and if there is something fishy with the tax rates it will only add to the major problem he has. The tax rate in Utah is a lot lower than in Massachusetts. Being a business person it would make sense to file in the state that would allow you to pay less in taxes. It makes sense for business but not for a candidate for office in Massachusetts because of the seven year rule. If Romney filed in Utah, then he lied to the election board and it would bring into question his eligibility as a candidate for Governor at the time. If Romney filed in Massachusetts, then it means what he told the board was correct; he was still working for Bain at the time he was running the Olympics. That would mean he has been lying when he said he left the company in 1999. There was a question of if it was possible for him to have changed his residency at the time of the election board inquiry, meaning he may have put Utah in the beginning but changed them later so he could run for Governor. This would still pose an issue because it would appear that he was changing his status to fit a particular scenario, which would look like a major flip-flop.

While I have no doubt there are other issues with his tax returns that could be problematic, I’m sure a lot of them would be tough for the public to follow just because of the complexities of the tax laws. The possible explanation I propose is simple for folks to follow. One has him lying to get on the ballot for Governor; the other has him lying about his time at Bain, thus leaving him open for attack about outsourcing. To those who may ask why he could release his taxes to the McCain campaign and not thinking it would be an issue, there wouldn’t have been an issue at the time. The bank debacle hadn’t fully developed at the time, so the Bain tenure wouldn’t have been seen as a risk and the residency was old news at the time. Look at how long it has taken to get to this point on Bain. It has been close to a year with constant scrutiny. If Romney were nominated for Vice President (and remember Palin was put forth on Aug 29, 2008) two months wouldn’t even come close to being able to dig into the arcane working Bain.

You can watch the video from The Rachel Maddow Show here.

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The Rachel Maddow Show Helps Me Crack the Mitt Tax Code - August 02, 2012
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