0 Votes
Should candidates be required to release tax records?
| Yes - it shows a level of integrity. | |
| Yes - but only a limited amount are needed. | |
| Yes - it reveals commonality to the people. | |
| No - it creates false impressions of wealth. | |
| No - it can ruin a good candidate for past infractions. | |
| No - it's a complete violation of privacy. |
Definitely necessary by Occams
I think that it shouldn’t normally be necessary, but when someone goes for this great office on a platform of being a good Christian then he invites some scrutiny about how good he really is.
If an famous general is discovered enjoying kinky sex, who cares, lucky bastard. If a Bishop is discovered enjoying kinky sex it become valid news because he owes his office to his reputation for purity.
In this case Mitt has two potential reasons for hiding his tax returns:
1: he will reveal to the LDS how accurate his tithing has been; and,
2. he would not want to reveal if he has taken advantage of the 2009 Swiss Bank Account Amnesty.
1: donations to a church or any charity should be entirely a private matter, even for a President, but if Mitt was skimping it would cause some serious concerns with his church because he must be one of its biggest donors and they could have lost $millions. Given his status in the LDS, this is rather like the kinky bishop case, and he would lose respect even outside his church.
2: would indicate that he is a tax dodger and ruin his claims to patriotism and honesty. He would be seen as a tremendous hypocrite after his acceptance speech.
The President was unjustifiably given a very hard time over his birth certificate by the conservatives. This is the sad style of American politics. Therefore if Mitt has not been clean on his taxes he should have known better than to run for this office.
Mitt really has no choice but to come clean now because his tax records have been stolen from his accountants (KPMG), and will no doubt soon become public. If he tries to hide from this speculation the media will deem him to be guilty
It would be fun seeing him trying to explain away this kind of evidence. I don’t see how his bid could survive either of them.
... but SHOULD they? by Anonymous
The general consensus seems to lean towards not requiring them to release tax records as an invasion of privacy. Two questions: