Monday, July 16, 2012

0% taxes

not to belabor the tax return thing, but my current pet theory about why romney won't release any pre-2010 returns is because there are some years that he didn't pay any taxes at all.

of john cassidy's four theories, numbers one, two, and four all seem pretty unlikely to me because everyone already assumes he has a high level of income, has used offshore accounts, and has paid a low tax rate. if being repeatedly bashed for not releasing more returns is at all worth it, there must be something worse that that. which only leaves cassidy's theory number three, politically toxic investments. it could be that. but i'm still going with my pet theory: zero taxes.

i think that getting away tax free would come across much worse with the american public than merely paying a very low rate. and it would seriously undermine his election pitch that taxes are too high, including taxes on the very rich.

UPDATE (7/17/2012): it looks like the obama campaign is floating the same theory.