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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has arguably been Mitt Romney’s most trusted and highest-profile campaign surrogate. Talk of Christie possibly serving as the Republican frontrunner’s running mate has been extremely common.
It was remarkable, then, to hear the governor on NBC’s “Today” this morning, pressing Romney to release his tax returns.
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For those who can’t watch clips online, here’s the exchange:
LAUER: You’re a full disclosure guy. You like it when politicians get out there and reveal their financial situations and their tax returns. Is mitt Romney missing the boat on this?
CHRISTIE: I don’t think he’s going to. I think he will release the taxes.
LAUER: Why wait?
CHRISTIE: Well, listen, I think the most relevant information is the most recent information. He’s going to release when he files in April. You know, that’s going to be personally up to him. My practice has been all along is, I release my tax returns every year as soon as they are filed. And that would be my preference.
LAUER: The appearance here is you wait until April, the nomination would be secured by that time and you don’t have to worry about fallout in the primaries.
CHRISTIE: Well, listen, I think he already started to speak about it yesterday, about the rate he pays. What I would say to Governor Romney is: if you have tax returns to put out, um you know, you should put them out. You put them out sooner rather than later because it’s always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially if you’re the frontrunner.
Christie also said something very similar on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” this morning.
This is what’s generally referred to as “off message.” Romney has said repeatedly that he does not intend to release these materials. As recently as a couple of weeks ago, the former governor said he’d “consider” releasing his tax returns “if I become president.” (In other words, after the election Romney might do what every other modern candidate has done before the election.)
And yet, here was Romney’s top surrogate arguing on national television that Romney should stop hiding his tax returns from the public. This is not at all what I expected.
On a related note, reader R.L. noted that Romney told reporters yesterday that “people will want to see the most recent year” of tax returns. He is, in other words, already trying to set a very low bar — Romney apparently intends to wait until after he’s the GOP nominee, then maybe release his returns for just a single year.
That won’t do. Barack Obama released nearly a decade’s worth of tax returns in 2008. When George Romney ran for president, he released 12 years of returns. Disclosure for one year won’t exactly meet any fair standard for transparency.
We’re talking about information the public deserves to know. Paul Krugman added this morning, “[A]re we sure that his tax rate is even as high as 15 percent? How much is shielded in tax havens? We need the returns.”
As of this morning, the pressure of Romney has been ratcheted it up considerably.
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Okie on January 18, 2012 10:34 AM:
Looks like Christie won't be the VP nominee. And doesn't want to be.
Th on January 18, 2012 10:37 AM:
I want to see if he paid SS and Medicare tax on his speaking fees. I bet he laundered that money somehow so that it was not counted as earned income.
Texas Aggie on January 18, 2012 10:39 AM:
Are you sure that Romney said he would release his tax returns this coming April? I seem to remember him saying that he would release next year's tax returns.
And I suspect that it isn't just that he isn't paying anywhere near the rate that most tax payers do that is behind his reluctance. Mormons are bound to tithe, give 10% to the church, the same way that Catholics are bound to go to mass. It's an obligation central to the whole belief. If Mormons find out that he hasn't been tithing given his enormous wealth, it will play real badly in Salt Lake City.
DAY on January 18, 2012 10:41 AM:
If he is smart, he will file, -on April 15th-, I.R.S. Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
The 6 month extension will allow him to release his taxes on September 15th, 2012, a date that may live in infamy, but will not affect the election.
Note that I said "if he is smart." There is ample evidence that he is not all that smart, so he will not do this.
Danp on January 18, 2012 10:44 AM:
Sounds to me like Blowhard Lardstone over here is doing his best to say the same thing that Romney said yesterday. That is, "of course I'm in favor of transparency, which is why something will probably be released in the distant future, at a point when it is too late to cause any serious inconvenience." I doubt the odds of a Romney/Christie ticket has changed because of these comments.
chopin on January 18, 2012 10:45 AM:
Just saw this over at huffpost. At first I thought it was a screen shot. But no, you can scroll and read McNasty's entire anti-mitt 2008 campaign book online. Yea, like you need to read all this shit to hate corporatist plastic man ;-)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/17/john-mccains-200-page-romney-research-book_n_1211965.html?ref=politics
MattF on January 18, 2012 10:48 AM:
There's also the matter of Romney's contributions to the Mormon church over the years. They are likely to be large and may well be very large. One may be high-minded and ignore this-- but politics ain't beanbag.
internet tough guy on January 18, 2012 10:49 AM:
Christie will be the VP. He may be one of the few people, if not the only one, able to make Romney look like a statesman.
hells littlest angel on January 18, 2012 10:52 AM:
Sounds to me like Christie is a fairly bright guy advising a really dumb guy what to do. Kind of like what Cheney was to Bush. Or Abbott to Costello.
Robert Paehlke on January 18, 2012 10:52 AM:
One possibility is that he has rearranged the structure of his finances leading into 2011 so that he is paying some reasonable amount of taxes (though likly still what would be paid if his income was wage income). Priior to that his rate was significantly lower, so low on income that high he would not want anyone to know. If he only reveals the filing for 2011, I think it is reasonable to assume that this is the case: he is only paying some taxes for appearances sake and in the past and in the future he has/will pay less.
Bruce K on January 18, 2012 10:52 AM:
Romney's team of tax lawyers, accountants, strategists, and consultants hasn't prepared 2011 yet, so they wanna manipulate his income so he pays more taxes on it and just release that single year.
This would be a good time for the press to do its job.
Brenna on January 18, 2012 10:53 AM:
Christie probably gave Mittens a heads up about what he'd say. I'm sure the portly New Jersey governor wants very much to be VP.
Robert on January 18, 2012 10:53 AM:
He needs the extra time to "sanitize" his current return.
SW on January 18, 2012 10:54 AM:
It's not 15%. It starts out at 15% and then the lawyers start working on it. I would be surprised if it is in double digits.
Snarki, child of Loki on January 18, 2012 10:54 AM:
Of course Willard doesn't want to release his returns!
It would show that paying child support for some extra wives, laundering his income through Cayman islands trust accounts, shortchanging the LDS, claiming "income from criminal activities" offset by foreign income tax credits.
Plus, that he's currently dead 'for tax purposes' this fiscal year.
slappy magoo on January 18, 2012 10:56 AM:
I'm not sure that's off message so much as parsing.
IF Mitt has his tax forms ready, he should release them.
BUT the only relevant tax form is this year's, even Christie is willing to parrot that line, despite his claims that he releases his forms every year.
AND Romney's tax form for this year is not ready. When it's ready, he'll release it, but that time is not now, so he can't. Too bad, so sad, just have to wait until April.
Christie is hedging his bets by adding "better to do it sooner rather than later," but Romney will argue his tax form is incredibly complex and will just have to go down to the wire before he files, and if he's the nominee before then, well, whaddaya going to do?
Christie's a lawyer, don't let his choice of words trip you up.
Another Steve on January 18, 2012 10:59 AM:
So, to sum up, Romney thinks he can get away with keeping the returns he filed in the years when the idea that the peons he wanted to govern should be allowed to see them was inconceivable and, instead, only thinks he has to release the "I'm running for office, for Pete's sake," return he's preparing now.
Sure, that'll work. No chance at all that'll trigger the MSM's dormant pack animals who smell offal instincts.
MattF on January 18, 2012 11:00 AM:
Also, Mitt's return will show amortization of the premium he got for selling his soul. The buyer might get irritated by that.
Amit Joshi on January 18, 2012 11:04 AM:
Here's the thing--Mitt's 2011 returns are not yet filed. I bet he's paid more taxes in 2011, and used fewer shelters and other shenanigans, than in any previous year. That's why he's talking about releasing only the latest return.
We should demand at least one previous return. Didn't recent Presidential candidates all release multiple years' returns?
square1 on January 18, 2012 11:08 AM:
Well, there is always the possibility that Mitt committed tax fraud that would be revealed by a thorough analysis of the returns. Maybe he learned from Gary Hart that boldly opening yourself up to scrutiny is not a wise choice when you are guilty as hell.
T2 on January 18, 2012 11:57 AM:
Christie's comments are reason #1 why anyone would be crazy to have him endorse them. He's a loose cannon. Sure Joe Biden goes off the track once in a while, but Christie would be a real problem as VP.
SKM on January 18, 2012 12:19 PM:
All you have to do is look up Sankaty LTD for at least one of the offshore-tax fund where he was listed as the sole-shareholder, sole CEO.
I'll bet he won't mention that he joined the board of directors of Marriott (as in JW Marriott hotels) in 2009.
As far as taxes, he is probably having someone make up some phoney returns from offshore - remember, Enron had one set of books here in the states, and another in the Cayman Islands.
Also, see "BYU Renames Building After $1 million Gift From Romney Family" www.deseretnews.com 2-12-1998
this is where most of the money is going gifts/endowments to name them after family members.
Then look up Global Management LLC, Maverick Capital Ltd, Pine Capital LLC, and the company Solamere Capital LLC in which he gave his son Tagg $10 million dollars for start up.
SKM on January 18, 2012 12:33 PM:
Amit Joshi,
I guess the hidden returns would explain why a guy like Mitt claims to have a net worth of $250 million
at the same time give a contract to Rush Limbaugh for $400 million (he does on Clear Channel Communication)
And with such compassion, Mitt would have given the lady (one of his supporters - campaign volunteer) at his townhall more than $50 especially if he can make a stupid $10,000 bet on television. But see, that's how he treat his workers (subordinates)!
RepublicanPointOfView on January 18, 2012 12:36 PM:
Leave Mitt alone...
Mitt has already provided all of the answers necessary about taxes!
This morning's Wall Street Journal declared on its front page that Mitt pays a 15% income tax rate. Their front page article makes it abundantly clear that this is the top rate for long term investment income, so he must be playing by the rules.
On Sumner Redstone's CBS National News program this morning, they had a segment about Mitt's taxes. They emphasized that 15% is the top capital gains tax rate. They even had a republican lady from South Carolina explain that this is a fair rate because investors reinvest all of their income and create jobs. Then they provide a graphic that shows that a working person making $40K a year pays an effective income tax rate of 13.7% and that Mitt's 15% is greater than that!
Fortunately, even the liberal media knows better than to confuse its readers and viewers with trivial information. Like carried interest being a change to tax law bought by hedge fund managers in 2002; which changed the bulk of Mitt's income from income to capital gains and his tax rate on that from 35% to 15%. Like trivialities such as the working person making $40K may have effective income tax rate of 13.7%, but the actual federal taxes he pays are (13.7% + 5.6% or 7.6%) 19.3% or 21.3% depending on whether the 2% FICA tax holiday continues. But then again we only talk about social security when we talk about expenditures and not when we talk about taxes collected.
Terp on January 18, 2012 1:47 PM:
Romney's plan is likely to pay a reasonable amount for 2011. Then after the election, his tax lawyers can file an amended return and get the money back.
CDW on January 18, 2012 2:37 PM:
I'm guessing that his cozy deals with and donations to the Mormon church account for his reluctance.
Tom Dibble on January 18, 2012 4:01 PM:
Two thoughts on Romney's tax releases:
1. As stated above, he likely hasn't been tithing 10% as required by LDS membership. He really isn't a good Mormon, from all external evidences (his lying with impunity immediately places him in the "not a strict observer of his church's teachings" camp). I doubt he's tithing. That's going to hurt.
2. He's likely been paying nearly 0% effective rates, after tax shelters and credits are taken into account. Which of course is well under the effective (income + payroll) tax rate that even the poorest pay.
Both of these can be corrected with a bit of financial maneuvering and declining-to-take-allowed-deductions for this year's returns. It's going to cost Romney, probably on par with the entire rest of the campaign to date. But he can do it, and needs to do it to remain a viable candidate.
But, there's no way he can make last year's return look like anything but absolute rich-asshole-welfare. So, he will avoid releasing that at all costs. He certainly will NOT release his returns dating back to his days at Bain where he was making massive piles of money.
Prove me wrong, Willard. Release your returns and show us that you haven't been milking the system for every last thousand-dollar-bill for the past two decades of your life and giving absolutely nothing back. Prove me wrong.
C. on January 18, 2012 9:04 PM:
Is there an error here?
"That won’t do. Barack Obama released nearly a decade’s worth of tax returns in 2008. When George Romney ran for president, he released 12 years of returns. Disclosure for one year won’t exactly meet any fair standard for transparency.
Who is George Romney?
C.
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