In tennis they call it an “unforced error.” It is an action that allows your opponent to score without the opponent having to do anything at all. And it is what Mitt Romney just did by filing for an extension on his 2011 Federal tax return — to October 15, 2012, about three weeks before the presidential election.
Six month extensions are legal. I have used them in the past. But I’m not running for President. And the issue of Mitt Romney’s failure to disclose his tax returns is one that Obama and his news media allies are going to wring around Romney’s neck for the rest of the campaign. Romney has literally set-up the issue that he “has something to hide” in his finances by not offering more serious attention to the matter. Romney may see his six-month extension as a way to avoid immediate disclosure of his finances and a year-long discussion of the details. He can say “I haven’t filed yet” as an excuse to avoid public disclosure. But in doing so, he is demonstrating himself to possess poor political judgment, and poor “crisis management” ability, because his extension only helps his critics make the case that he is out-of-touch with the average American and hurts the chances of Republican victory in November.
Candidates for Federal office, whether President, Senate or Congress, are not required to disclose their actual personal tax returns. Those returns are entitled to the same level of privacy that the IRS promises each and every taxpayer. However, all federal candidates must complete a personal financial disclosure form, and in the case of a candidate for President that is “Office of Government Ethics Form 278.” Form 278 essentially pulls out of the Federal tax return and makes public most any information that might constitute a conflict of interest. It is a good thing; as candidates for President should be subject to conflict-of-interest disclosures.
Even though the Form 278 makes public most any relevant information, an “old saw” of political campaigns is for a wealthy candidate to be challenged to disclose their actual personal tax returns by an opponent. The challenge only really becomes a continuing news story if the wealthy candidate refuses to basically give a copy of their taxes to the news media. At which point the story widens to claims of “what does he have to hide?”, all such mud-slinging being intended to wear down the credibility of the wealthy candidate in the eyes of the public.
Romney himself gave life to such claims against him when he was initially reluctant to disclose his 2010 tax returns during the Republican presidential primaries. He eventually gave in to calls to disclose his tax returns, which showed he paid $3 million on $22 million in income, including $3 million in gifts to charity. But his disclosure blew-up in his face because a Swiss bank-account and some other overseas investments revealed on the personal tax returns were not included in his Form 278 filing. This lead to Obama calling on Romney for more prior year tax return disclosures, including for the time Romney headed the private equity firm Bain Capital. Comparisons were drawn to Romney’s father, George, who had released 12 years of tax returns prior to his bid for the Presidency in the 1960s, and George W. Bush, who released 17 years worth of tax returns prior to his election.
With his team of 100s of staffers and policy advisers, one would think that Romney would have learned that any fooling around with his current tax return would be a political mistake. But apparently he didn’t learn. Obama’s staff made the predictable statement yesterday when they learned of the Romney tax extension — “what does he have to hide?,” said campaign manager Jim Messina. Look for more of that theme about Romney in the next few months — all predictable, and it will hurt Romney.
If Romney takes a full extension to file his taxes, they won’t be available for public disclosure until just three weeks before the presidential election. It may be that Romney just doesn’t want to reveal his taxes before the Republican Convention in August, and that he is more worried about getting past his presumptive nomination without further disclosures, than what Obama might say about him in the meantime. Regardless, the Obama team will surely exploit the situation by issuing press statements and staging news events that will reflect poorly on Romney’s “late filing” until it becomes public. And it is just as predictable that there will be something wrong with Romney’s eventual tax filing, which Obama’s team will seize on to further beat down Romney’s credibility. Sadly, the state of the economy, gasoline prices, job creation, and the rest get sidelined to news reports created simply because Romney did not file his taxes on time.