The 'Missing Evidence' in Romney's Tax Records
Releasing the returns would solve the mystery
Evidently the chief complaint against Reid—aside from aggressiveness unbecoming a Democrat—is that he cited "an extremely credible source" who he has so far declined to name. Some journalists have gone so far as to suggest that Reid must be lying because he won't identify the source.
Despite all this righteous tut-tutting among the great and the good, in newspapers and magazines as well as on television, Reid's critics simply have no way of knowing whether he is telling the truth or not. From the beginning, Reid himself admitted forthrightly that he has no way of being absolutely certain whether what he was told is factual or not, although he believes the person who said it was being truthful.
Many of Reid's critics work for news outlets that rely on unnamed sources every day, of course, publishing assertions that range from the mundane to the outlandish. It is hard to see why an unnamed source quoted by a daily newspaper or a monthly magazine—or hidden behind a screen in a TV studio—is more credible than a person whispering in the ear of a United States senator.
Indeed, several of the news outlets now barking at Reid have suffered their own episodes of scandalous embarrassment owing to the exposure of invented sources and quotes (see Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, etc., etc., etc.). Yet they nevertheless continue to publish quotes from such unnamed individuals. After all, where else would Reid have learned that this is acceptable conduct?
Romney's Response Proves Nothing
Meanwhile, Romney's response is to demand that Reid "put up or shut up"—that is, reveal the name of his source. But that would prove nothing. As Reid has pointed out, only the former Bain executive can demonstrate conclusively that suspicions about his tax history are unfounded. Although the irritated Romney retorts that he has "paid a lot of taxes," his denial won't suffice as proof either. He could have paid hefty real estate taxes on his various homes and sales taxes on his purchases of cars, car elevators, powerboats and other luxury goods, among other levies, while paying little or no federal income tax.
Obviously, it would be simple for Romney to disprove Reid's statement, which is unlike McCarthyite accusations that involve someone's personal associations or state of mind. The necessary evidence is not only within Romney's possession, but it is also material that candidates in his position normally release to the public and that the public expects to see. It is material that he previously surrendered to Sen. John McCain's campaign staff in 2008, when they were vetting him for a possible vice presidential nomination. (For now, they are conspicuously silent on the Reid controversy.)
There is a legal doctrine that applies to Romney's current behavior, as Indiana attorney John Sullivan points out—and it doesn't place the burden of proof on Reid: At law, if a person in control of evidence refuses to produce the evidence, then the jury is instructed that there is a presumption that the evidence would be against the party failing to produce. It is called the "Missing Evidence" instruction.
The missing evidence is in Romney's grasp, yet he insists that he will never produce it. Does anyone need instruction from a judge to make the correct inference?
Joe Conason is the editor in chief of NationalMemo.com.
© 2012 Creators.com
Of course, this will not work in the Conservative eye unless you also canceled all entitlement programs, no more EIC. Would this stop the Romney's, Ross Perot's, and other wealthy from generating their income off-shore and avoiding US taxes? No not one bit! It would still happen.
Obama's wanting to make the rich pay only 15% on their Capital Gains and Dividends... BS! They already do, and that was put into place long ago! -- We can't tax that precious retirement investment income, many of the oldsters who realized that Social Security would not do it had bought their stocks specifically for the regular dividends that pay even when they stop working, their "fixed income".
No, there are 2 things to do. Reduce Corporate tax rates to be as low as the rest of the world, in fact, how about no tax at all, they just pass their taxes on through higher prices to their customers or lower wages to their workers. It's the Retail customer and the worker that really pay all the taxes anyway. Taxes should be ONLY on PERSONAL income, not on Corporate income! Tax it only when they pay it out to their workers, high paid execs, CEOs, AND DIVIDENDS to STOCKHOLDERS. That is called money LEAVING the company's control, that's the time to tax it.
The 2nd thing is to make a clear distinction between EARNED income on wages, and un-worked income as capital gains or dividends. Those people who have to put in time on the clock to earn their daily bread should still have a progressive income tax, complete with a standard deduction (without marriage penalty), where the higher levels pay a bigger PERCENTAGE. A man who earns 10 times as much does not eat 10 times as much, does not sleep in a bed 10 times as large, or have to pay 10 times as much when he buys a gallon of gasoline.
Those who collect dividends and capital gains should also have a standard deduction and a progressive tax rate, not a flat 15%. But, it is okay to have a MUCH larger standard deduction, enough so that those who are working class retired do not have any taxes on it at all. Imagine (if you will), a standard deduction on wages of like 10,000, but a standard deduction on "mailbox money" of 6-figures. Index that dividend standard deduction level to match the 90% level in overall income ranking, so the top 10% of mailbox money pay the tax on the excess, but the bottom 90% of mailbox money do not pay any dividend tax at all.
Progressive is just the OPPOSITE of what happens with the main part of the Social Security tax, where they tax about 6% on the FIRST 100K (plus make the employer match that dollar for dollar, so it is like 12% off the companies profits), but anything above that 100K has no taxes collected on it. It means that the person who barely earns 6-figures pays just as high of a SS tax as Warren Buffet or Bill Gates or Romney -- We just don't realize we should complain about it because we do not have to go down to HR Block and file on it every year.