Reid Said Romney Paid ‘Basically’ No Taxes For 12 Years In Mid-July Speech

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) charge, in an interview with The Huffington Post, that Mitt Romney paid no taxes over the course of 10 years wasn’t the first time he’s made that accusation of the presumptive Republican nominee.

“His father, George Romney, set the precedent that people running for president would file their tax returns and let everybody look at them,” Reid declared, in a little-noticed floor speech from mid-July. “But Mitt Romney can’t do that because he’s basically paid no taxes in the prior 12 years.”

Reid’s most recent remarks have been criticized as deliberately provocative, if not reckless, speculation. The majority leader said he was told that Romney “didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years” by someone who invested with Bain Capital, Romney’s former private equity firm. But Reid hasn’t named names, and went so far as to admit that he didn’t know if his information was accurate.

Yet the fact that Reid made a similar assertion with little fanfare nearly three weeks ago (the 12 years he references likely include the two for which Romney has released tax information) suggests that he personally believes the information to be true.

Either way, the political implications of Romney’s tax history eclipse the question of the identity of Reid’s anonymous Bain source. Romney’s refusal to release further tax return data has left the door open for his critics to dispense with the presumption of innocence and speculate openly about what possibly nefarious details he is trying to hide.

Related on HuffPost:

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  • Ron Paul

    “Politically, I think that would help him,” Paul said in a interview with a href=”http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78599.html#ixzz20w7ycTBE” target=”_hplink”Politico/a. “In the scheme of things politically, you know, it looks like releasing tax returns is what the people want.”

  • Richard Lugar

    “I have no idea on why he has restricted the number to this point,” a href=”http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57474352/pressure-mounts-on-mitt-romney-to-release-more-tax-returns/?tag=socsh” target=”_hplink”Lugar said/a.

  • George Will

    “I don’t know why… he didn’t get all of this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest,” Will said on ABC’s “a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/15/george-will-mitt-romney-bain_n_1674513.html?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+HP%2FPolitics+(Politics+on+The+Huffington+Post)” target=”_hplink”This Week/a.” “He’s done nothing illegal, nothing unseemly, nothing improper, but lots that’s impolitic.”

  • Bill Kristol

    “He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It’s crazy,” Kristol said on “a href=”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/15/mitt-romney-tax-returns_n_1674325.html” target=”_hplink”Fox News Sunday/a.” “You gotta release six, eight, 10 years of back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two.”

  • Robert Bentley

    “I just believe in total transparency,” Bentley told a href=”http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/07/gop-governor-calls-on-mitt-romney-to-release-additional-tax-returns-and-show-he-has-nothing-to-hide/” target=”_hplink”ABC News/a. “In fact, I was asked today that question — do you think that Governor Romney should release his tax returns? And I said I do. I said, I release my tax returns. I may be the only public official in Alabama that does, but I release mine every year and I just believe that people should release their tax returns. And if you get them out and just get past that, it just makes it so much easier.”

  • Haley Barbour

    When asked on “a href=”http://www.nationaljournal.com/2012-presidential-campaign/barbour-romney-should-release-more-tax-returns-20120710″ target=”_hplink”The Situation Room/a” if Romney should release more returns, Barbour said, “I would. But should it be an issue in the campaign? I don’t think it amounts to diddly.”

  • Michael Steele

    “If there’s nothing there, there’s no ‘there’ there, don’t create a there,'” Steele said on MSNBC.

  • David Frum

    “Tax returns the next problem. Releasing returns under pressure: more weakness, more pain,” Frum a href=”https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/224509505973661696″ target=”_hplink”tweeted/a.

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