TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Rodell Mollineau, American Bridge 21st Century
DATE: July 16, 2012
RE: Questions Romney can clear up with his tax returns
Mitt Romney has been trying very hard to run out the clock on this campaign without providing a complete and accurate picture of his finances. He has released his returns for 2010 and [whatever he releases], but that does not provide a full accounting of his financial priorities and practices.
For example, from his limited release to this point, very serious questions need to be answered about his offshore holdings, trusts, and ongoing profit from his private equity career. He is also taking great pains to distance himself from his involvement with Bain Capital post-February 1999, but yet refuses to release his tax returns over that period which would prove his veracity on the subject.
Romney’s father started the tradition of releasing his taxes by providing 12 years. Romney himself provided 23 years of taxes when he was being vetted for the vice presidential slot under McCain (and losing out to Sarah Palin). So, it should be easy for Romney to put a number of questions to rest by simply providing the public with his income taxes just as he provided them to John McCain.
Here are the questions that could be easily answered through a full and transparent disclosure:
INCOME
- How did Mitt Romney report his $100,000 salary from Bain in 2001 and 2002? Did he in fact earn more than that amount?
- Are there other companies that paid Romney six figures a year as earned income, not investment income, for which he had no involvement?
- What was his effective tax rate over that time?
- How much did Romney save from the Bush tax cuts?
- How did being sole owner of Bain Capital affect Romney’s taxes?
PASSIVE INCOME
- When did Romney first invest in Solamere Capital?
- What overseas investments did Romney hold?
- Romney’s defense of many of the issues regarding his investments was that they were in a blind trust. What were Romney’s finances like when he personally controlled them?
- What additional offshore tax accounts did Romney hold, and in what additional countries?
- What investments did Romney hold in earlier years?
- What were Romney’s personal investments in controversial Bain deals? (Ampad, GST Steel, Stericycle, Cambridge, Dade, Mother Stores, Anthony Crane, Stage Stores, HB Group, etc.)
- When did Romney start accruing carried interest?
- Do his earlier returns shed light on his 83(b) elections?
- Did Mitt Romney use offshore blocker corporations to avoid the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT)?
DEDUCTIONS
- What tax write offs did Romney claim for travel business expenses between 1999-2002, since he admitted to travelling to Boston for business?
- What unreimbursed business expenses did Romney claim?
- Did Romney claim child care credits?
- Did Romney claim deductions for student loan interest? Did he take tax deductions for college savings for his children?
- Did Romney deduct any hobby expenses (schedule A, line 28) for his horses, as he did in 2010?
- What charitable contributions did Romney make? Did they ever contradict his current political views?
SPENDING
- How many people have the Romneys employed over the years in their homes and what were those employees paid?
Published: Jul 16, 2012