Chris Wallace: Romney's Tax Returns 'Politically Toxic'

[cleduc]

11. "SHOULD have seen this coming years ago .."

".... as he's been running for President for years now"

I think he did see it coming. What he didn't see coming was the IRS being granted the ability by the court to subpoena Swiss banks in 2008 and the resulting need for him to get amnesty for the taxes he had evaded.

I think that's why the Obama campaign limited their request to five years - even though 2002 probably shows him being paid a hefty salary by Bain (after he'd retroactively retired).

He's not going to produce those returns because it would effectively end his candidacy. He'd probably withdraw before doing that.

After the convention, when the GOP are more or less stuck with him, with too little time to react and many of the GOP ads produced with Romney, the Obama campaign will probably suggest a 3rd party auditor that won't reveal the tax returns themselves. That largely kills Romney's excuse that he would be attacked by new information. The auditor would answer the seven or so questions the Obama campaign/the media has. End of issue for Romney ... until he declines and the media and the electorate smells blood.

It will come up again for sure when he releases his 2011 return.

This is far from over.

At the very least, the entire nation may not know for sure if Romney evaded taxes but most will know he evaded answering that question.