What Is Mitt Romney Hiding?

Critics can call Mitt Romney many names, but to say that Mitt has the blandness and predictability of a typical business manager is just not fair. The closer the elections, the more colorful and interesting Romney is becoming; this is mainly stemming from what we don’t know about him, rather than what voters do know. The secrecy around the candidate is truly great — and secrets, as is well known, draw people in. In the light of Romney’s recent statements, it seems that Romney is a much more interesting candidate than Barack Obama.

When Mitt Romney left the office of governor of the state of Massachusetts in January of 2007, his people bought the official hard drives and took them along. They also deleted any and all emails pertaining to the work of the governor’s office. The whole operation cost around $100,000 and, as Romney has insisted, was completely legal.

Romney is also very secretive with his taxes, which distinguishes his run from that of his father. In 1967, when George Romney was also running for president, he voluntarily unveiled 12 years of tax returns. “One year could be a fluke, perhaps done for show,” he famously remarked back then. Romney created a precedent which has been followed by every presidential candidate since. Romney, Jr. has not.

Asked during a TV interview whether or not he will release his tax returns, Romney laughed and said, “Who knows?” It seemed that this statement backfired; a couple of weeks later, under pressure from his primary rivals and news outlets, he published his 2010 tax returns and predictions for 2011. The public found out that during these two years, he made over $40 million and was taxed at a very low rate — 14 percent. However, Romney does not plan to release any more documents.

American voters put an enormous price on transparency, and it is becoming obvious that by hiding his tax returns, Romney is only hurting himself. Mitt and his advisors seem to have decided, however, that revealing those documents might hurt him even more. So what is he hiding?

Swarms of reporters have been trying to find something, anything, that might reveal the answer. Recently, the American public learned that Romney recently had a bank account in Switzerland and investments in the tax havens of the Caymans and Bermuda. In his retirement account, he invested in securities at a low rate, causing them to gain value, years later, to the tune of thousands, if not millions, of dollars. This is a trick used to avoid paying higher tax rates.

We also found out some small details, which, nevertheless, can irritate the average American. In 1999, Romney stepped down from the leadership of Bain Capital, which he founded and led for 15 years. However, the company still paid him $100,000 the following year. The candidate himself admitted that during that time he did absolutely nothing for the firm. For doing nothing, he made more money than most hard working Americans do in a year.

Paul Krugman, a New York Times columnist and a sworn enemy of the Republicans, cut to the heart of the matter and explained why all of this information is damaging to Mitt Romney.

Both Romneys made a lot of money, but George paid a 37 percent tax on his income earned while producing automobiles, a physical and valuable commodity. In the 1950s and ‘60s, the automobile industry was the engine of the American economy.

Mitt Romney, however, pays a 14 percent tax on producing nothing. He makes money off of financial transactions whose usefulness is unknown to most Americans, or viewed with suspicion altogether. After all, it was risky speculation that caused the financial crisis.

In addition, Romney, much like all Republicans, complains when Obama wants to raise taxes on the wealthy. According to Romney, they are already too high and are killing innovation.

We can be 200 percent sure that the discs as well as the tax forms contain nothing illegal. Romney is the type of person who does everything according to the law, but masterfully exploits any and all loopholes in the tax code. He represents a small business elite that makes money off of other money. The middle class profits little from these kinds of transactions.

That is perhaps Romney’s biggest secret.