Why Obama's College Records Matter

[Harsh_77 716]

I think the lesson we need to learn is that we need a better vetting process for presidential candidates.

What best way to lead by example, then to insist Mitt Romney make his tax returns available to the American public?

Same thing about transparency should be applicable to both the candidate; Obama cannot just keep on asking one candidate to disclose his details, while protecting his own.

[Harsh_77 716]

Funny thing is that the birthers think that the President's school records are on the same level as the financial disclosure. They're not. Simple as that.

Reading this birther article, it's so full of garbage it's not even funny. People don't know that Obama spent a few years of his childhood in Indonesia? Really? Any piece that discusses the President's upbringing clearly states that. **, look him up on wiki and it's right there. But then these birthers are so dumb they probably don't know what wiki is.

Wiki is the absolute truth? Really…… even I can create a wiki page and put whtever I want on there.

All the speeches he had given during and before his election as president about transparency and how his govt would make everything visible to public, he has failed on those real badly.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Same thing about transparency should be applicable to both the candidate; Obama cannot just keep on asking one candidate to disclose his details, while protecting his own.

I agree, but the fact remains that Romney should be different than Obama, instead he is doing just the same.

I believe that behavior will alienate a lot of his constituency.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

they're only interest is from the left wing loons. the none obama minions of the world don't care what romney does or did with HIS money. we care what obama is doing with OUR money.

Like the loons that chased Kerry's wife for her tax return and - once they saw how little she paid in taxes - complained that she didn't pay her fair share? Funny how tables turn sometimes, isn't it?

Free Republic to the rescue:

In 2003, THK earned $5 million, hardly a surprising income for someone estimated to be worth nearly $1 billion. … THK paid $627,150 in taxes, for an overall average federal tax rate of only 12.4% on her $5 million in total income. … As the chart shows, this puts THK’s tax rate well below that of other filers in her super-rich neighborhood. But it also means that she is paying a lower average rate than nearly all middle-class taxpayers paid in 2001. The top 50% of all federal files contributed 96.1% of all federal income taxes and they paid an average income-tax rate of 15.9%. That’s 3.5 percentage points more than THK paid in 2003.

Sound familiar?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1248883/posts

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

the none obama minions of the world don't care what romney does or did with HIS money.

If that is true, then Romney has nothing to fear. I suspect, however, that Romney releasing a 2009 tax return that reveals that he applied for and benefitted from an amnesty provision in regards to previously undisclosed foreign accounts might upset a few non obama minions whose support the good governor would like to have.

[DaveE 178]

If that is true, then Romney has nothing to fear. I suspect, however, that Romney releasing a 2009 tax return that reveals that he applied for and benefitted from an amnesty provision in regards to previously undisclosed foreign accounts might upset a few non obama minions whose support the good governor would like to have.

You base this on what? Pure speculation? I an not being nasty, just want to know how you come to this conclusion.

[kytwell 179]

Like the loons that chased Kerry's wife for her tax return and - once they saw how little she paid in taxes - complained that she didn't pay her fair share? Funny how tables turn sometimes, isn't it?

Free Republic to the rescue:

Sound familiar?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1248883/posts

What it shows is how funny both parties are. So an ultra rich Dem is fine with liberal base and is not paying fair share with Republicans. Now the shoe is on the other foot and an ultra rich Republican isn't paying his fair share to the libs and the Republican's don't care. It's both parties that are the problem.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

There's nothing illegal or odd about filing an extension. 10 million others do it. And 2011 will be released by October 15, but the retort was "we" want years before that. Which is it? So even if you get all of those returns prior to 2010, the extension in 2011 still bodes bad then?

No issues with the extension. I get it. His tax returns are quite complex, I'm sure, and the extensions are there so that people with complex finaces have an opportunity to file complete and accurate returns w/o incurring fines for filing later than the common man's deadline. That's all good.

But if a presidential candidate maintains offshore accounts including accounts with a Swiss institution that has sheltered funds and enabled illegal tax evasion and if there was a tax amnesty that allowed illegal tax evaders to come clean w/o facing criminal or financial liability, then I think it's reasonable to ask whether a candidate for Presient has applied for and benefitted from such amnesty. It's one thing to play the tax code and reduce tax liabilities legally. It's quite another to illegally evade taxation.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You base this on what? Pure speculation? I an not being nasty, just want to know how you come to this conclusion.

I base this on reporting such as this.

Romney's 2010 tax return, when combined with his FEC disclosure, reveals red flags that raise serious tax compliance questions with respect to his possible tax minimization strategies in earlier years. The release in October of his 2011 return will at best act as a distraction from these questions.

So, what are the issues?

The first is Romney's Swiss bank account. Most presidential candidates don't think it appropriate to bet that the U.S. dollar will lose value by speculating in Swiss Francs, which is basically the rationale offered by the trustee of Romney's "blind" trust for opening this account. What's more, if you really want just to speculate on foreign currencies, you don't need a Swiss bank account to do so.

The Swiss bank account raises tax compliance questions, too.

The account seems to have been closed early in 2010, but was the income in fact reported on earlier tax returns? Did the Romneys timely file the required disclosure forms to the Treasury Department (so-called FBAR reports)?

The IRS announced in 2009 a partial tax amnesty for unreported foreign bank accounts, in light of the Justice Department's criminal investigations involving several Swiss banks. To date, some 34,500 Americans have taken advantage of such amnesty programs. Did the Romneys avail themselves of any of these amnesty programs? One hopes that such a suggestion is preposterous, but that is what disclosure is for -- to replace speculation with truth-telling to the American people.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

What it shows is how funny both parties are. So an ultra rich Dem is fine with liberal base and is not paying fair share with Republicans. Now the shoe is on the other foot and an ultra rich Republican isn't paying his fair share to the libs and the Republican's don't care. It's both parties that are the problem.

This is true. One is allowed to point out the hypocrisy over on the right, though. I mean when Kerry's tax rate was revealed it was decried as being lower than the average. It was complained that the Kerry's didn't pay their fair share - those complaints came from way over there on the right. Fast forward a few years and when Mitt's tax rate is revealed and said to be below the average and that Mitt isn't paying his fair share - because that claim now originates left of center, suddenly that's not relevant or true and it's basically all just a bunch of class warfare commie talk.

[Harsh_77 716]

No issues with the extension. I get it. His tax returns are quite complex, I'm sure, and the extensions are there so that people with complex finaces have an opportunity to file complete and accurate returns w/o incurring fines for filing later than the common man's deadline. That's all good.

But if a presidential candidate maintains offshore accounts including accounts with a Swiss institution that has sheltered funds and enabled illegal tax evasion and if there was a tax amnesty that allowed illegal tax evaders to come clean w/o facing criminal or financial liability, then I think it's reasonable to ask whether a candidate for Presient has applied for and benefitted from such amnesty. It's one thing to play the tax code and reduce tax liabilities legally. It's quite another to illegally evade taxation.

As long as he did it without breaking any laws or regulation than there is nothing wrong with it.

Which means someone like you and me can also do it if we have a CPA who is well verse with it.

Being not aware of those laws and paying more taxes does not make you or me any better citizen.

If Romney evaded taxes by breaking any of the laws applicable during that time than he is guilty.

[kytwell 179]

But if a presidential candidate maintains offshore accounts including accounts with a Swiss institution that has sheltered funds and enabled illegal tax evasion and if there was a tax amnesty that allowed illegal tax evaders to come clean w/o facing criminal or financial liability, then I think it's reasonable to ask whether a candidate for Presient has applied for and benefitted from such amnesty. It's one thing to play the tax code and reduce tax liabilities legally. It's quite another to illegally evade taxation.

So he may have did something(get amnesty) that was available to him and he possibly took advantage of it. Not sure how any voter having that knowledge, would still decide to vote for Obama, if their mind is already made up to vote against him. Likewise any Obama supporters, not sure how if all this fluff is found out to be about nothing, how you would then go pull the lever for Romney. It's much ado about nothing. Birth certs, tax returns, college transcripts...all BS. There's another thread about intel leaks, that's receiving little activity, because no one cares if this administration is leaking info, they care more about Romney's tax returns, rather than holding the current admin accountable for what's going on today.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

As long as he did it without breaking any laws or regulation than there is nothing wrong with it.

If it takes an amnesty then by definition laws were broken. You do know what an amnesty is, yes?

[JohnR! 5,495]

What it shows is how funny both parties are. So an ultra rich Dem is fine with liberal base and is not paying fair share with Republicans. Now the shoe is on the other foot and an ultra rich Republican isn't paying his fair share to the libs and the Republican's don't care. It's both parties that are the problem.

Agreed on that one.

You can either indict both candidates or neither.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I agree, but the fact remains that Romney should be different than Obama, instead he is doing just the same.

I believe that behavior will alienate a lot of his constituency.

I see. No standards required for liberals. Purity test required for conservatives.