Romney's Taxes

So Mitt Romney says he's not going to release his tax returns. Instead, "I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.”

Well, if you're going to do that, why not release your tax returns, which has been SOP for presidential candidates for decades?

Steve Benen makes a suggestion:

Only the candidate knows for sure, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that Romney, worth about a quarter-billion dollars, makes just about all of his income from “dividends, interest, and capital gains,” which means he pays taxes at a much lower rate.

In a campaign context, that means the multi-millionaire Republican pays a lower tax rate than working families and — this is important — intends to pursue tax policies as president that would keep this advantage for people like him in place.

Romney could be more forthcoming on these facts, but he’s running for office for Pete’s sake.