Tax Return Troubles

In an effort to quiet the dull roar that remains among the American consciousness about his taxes, Mitt Romney released his returns from 2011, in which he paid a 14.1% rate — slightly higher than the 13.9% he paid in 2010. As Jon Stewart put it, Romney releasing only his returns from the past few years is like “Keith Richards autobiography [being] called ‘My Years as a Movie Pirate.’” Romney’s tax lawyers at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP also released a notarized summary of Romney’s returns from 1990-2009. This of course begs the question: Why release a summary instead of the documents themselves? If Romney wants to fully refute Harry Reid’s hyperbolic charge that the Governor “didn’t pay any taxes over the last ten years” and fend off criticism from prominent Republicans and conservative pundits, he should bite the bullet and release his full tax returns as far away from the election as possible. The sooner he does so, the more time he leaves the electorate to simply forget about it, and focus on his next gaffe.

The Romney campaign made a crucial mistake in waiting this long to address the issue, and now it seems they’ve reengaged in a losing battle. Of course, the smart move would have been to either release all documents the moment that criticism — especially within his own party — started mounting. Standing firm until today — and then only releasing a summary — only continues the tax returns conversation, ensuring that questions about Romney’s finances occupy a place in the news cycle for another few days at best. And Romney is running out days.

Tax returns are so close to a non-issue that to spend so much time discussing them — and moreover for the Romney campaign to willingly perpetuate this discussion — is patently absurd. The Romney camp should have acted swiftly and decisively when the first hints of a tax return issue came up. At this point, their consistent dithering has only done harm.

Today’s decision is emblematic of a poorly run and unfocused campaign and just one of the reasons why Romney is projected to lose this election.