Mitt Romney’s personal tax history is exactly the kind of political mystery that porn mogul and free speech advocate Larry Flynt would like to uncover. So he and Hustler are offering $1 million in cash for information on the presidential candidate's “unreleased tax returns and/or details of his offshore assets, bank accounts and business partnerships” in full-page ads in USA Today and the Washington Post. “What is he hiding?” asks the ad.
Probably good for sales but not going to happen. The small print conditions the payment on the delivering party proving that they legally obtained the information. That is going to be tough since tax returns are confidential and neither the preparer or the IRS can disclose them without Romney's express consent and I guess we know that won't happen.
It's nothing to do with the tax return - it's all to do with creating the (strong) perception that Romney is engaged in nefarious deeds involving all the secret things the ad alleges.
It's right up there with "If Saddam had nothing to hide, he would have given us all the WMDs we know he's hiding".
Someone over on DKos pointed out what should have been obvious to me. The stock market has more or less fully recovered over the term of Obama's presidency. Romney's money is mostly stock. Obama's presidency has made Romney a SHITLOAD of money. Therefore, in addition to whatever palpably unfair manipluations he's got going on, he must answer the question: "Are you better off than you were 4 years ago?" with a resounding hell yes. And this, he has to hide to keep his basic "Obama is bad, mmkay, just trust me, mmkay," narrative up.
