Right Change: Romney Declines Obama’s Tax Return Offer

President Obama's campaign offered Mitt Romney a sweet deal today: Release five years of tax returns, and.... (drum roll please) “We'll stop demanding more!” Wow! What a deal. Where does Romney sign for this sweet little gem? Jim Messina, the official Obama deal negotiator said,"I am prepared to provide assurances on just that point: If the Governor will release five years of returns, I commit in turn that we will not criticize him for not releasing more -- neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign." The Obama campaign negotiators are quite gentlemanly. They obviously pulled the short straw on this deal.

Well for some reason the Romney campaign refused the offer, calling the Obama request a “political ploy” simply designed to distract voters from the real issues. "It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending," Romney’s campaign manager Matt Rhoades wrote in a response to lead negotiator Jim Messina.

The Obama offer came just a day after Romney said he has paid a tax rate of at least 13% per year over the past decade. “But I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13%,” Mr. Romney said. “If charitable giving were wrapped into that, the rate would’ve been more than 20%.” Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney and wife Ann reported $21.7 million in earnings in 2010 and $20.9 million last year. The couple gave away $7 million in charitable contributions over the past two years, and according to his 2010 return, Romney paid about $3 million to the IRS, for an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent.

Wait come again... $3 million? He PAID $3 million dollars to our government, in one year? Paid for the same roads, highways, and military protection that half the American population gets for free because they don’t have to pay taxes? Wait a second... We shouldn’t be attacking this guy, we should be THANKING him! So why do liberals continue to attack and guilt trip Mitt Romney and other “successful” Americans into thinking that they are not doing enough? Just this week White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, “The President believes that it is not fair — inherently not fair — that those who are millionaires and billionaires pay at a lower rate than average Americans who are struggling to get by.” Lower tax rate?? $3 million in taxes? Are we missing something?

Speaking of missing something, since the Obama camp is all of a sudden preaching “release information” theology, how about the President releases a few things like his:  College transcripts, Academic records, Passport, and Medical records.

Here’s the deal the Romney camp should make with President Obama. Release a un-photo-shopped copy of your college transcripts, academic records, passport, and medical records and we will release 5 years of Romney tax returns. And just to sweeten the deal we will not criticize President Obama for not releasing any more documents -- neither in ads nor in other public communications or commentary for the rest of the campaign. Sound fair? Good.

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