Obama - Biden Cherrine

Friday morning, I sent a letter to Mitt Romney's campaign manager, asking that Romney release just five years of tax returns. And I made a commitment that, if he does, this campaign would not demand more.

You should add your name. Here's why:

Right now, our opponent is proposing a $X tax increase on middle-class families with kids in order to pay for tax breaks for millionaires like him.

He's asking Americans to put him in charge of their taxes, while refusing to come clean about his own.

This isn't going away because voters deserve better, and everyone but the Romney campaign seems to recognize that.

Call for Mitt Romney to join President Obama in this basic and traditional act of transparency: Add your name.

Romney's refusal to release his returns is raising more questions than he's been willing to answer.

According to the one full year of returns he has released, Romney paid 13.9% in taxes on his income. Thursday, he said he went back and looked, and has never paid less than 13% over the last ten years.

Now we're asking him to put his money where his mouth is.

It is absolutely relevant for us to ask how much a presidential candidate paid in taxes, if he sheltered his money or tried to get out of paying taxes at all, why he started and continues to own a corporation offshore in Bermuda, why he keeps his finances offshore in the Cayman Islands, and why he opened a Swiss bank account.

In refusing to be transparent about it, he's not only breaking the trust he's asking voters to place in him, but also three decades of precedent that began with his own father's presidential campaign in 1968.

This issue isn't going away, and for good reason. Tell Romney to follow 30 years of precedent and release his tax returns:

[url]

Messina

Jim Messina Campaign Manager Obama for America

- Election Day is closer than you think make a donation to fund this campaign in the time we have left.

Paid for by Obama for America

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I sent the Romney campaign a note yesterday.

Mitt Romney has long said he won't follow the precedent his father set of releasing several years' worth of returns, as President Obama did during the 2008 campaign and has continued to do as President.

So I asked him if he'd release just five years of his tax returns to the public -- and all I've heard in response? "Thanks for the note."

If you think we all deserve better, speak up. Join me, and add your name to my letter demanding that Mitt Romney level with American voters.

Political candidates release their tax returns for a whole lot of reasons.

How a person manages their own finances reflects on how they would manage the finances of our country. They tell you what a candidate stands to gain, and lose, from a variety of policies -- like changes to our tax code. They tell you about a person's ethics, their priorities, and their commitment to transparency.

So you have to wonder why Mitt Romney thinks releasing one full year of his tax returns, and a vague commitment to release this year's returns "as soon as the accountants have that ready," is all that Americans deserve to know as we prepare to choose our next president.

But his 2010 release raises more questions than it answers:

Why did Romney keep millions of dollars in a Swiss bank account? Why does he have a shell corporation in Bermuda?

As voters, we shouldn't just be curious. We should be outraged about this. Because you know that as Romney vetted his new running mate, Paul Ryan, he asked for several full years of disclosure on his financial history. And when you play by two sets of rules before you even make it into office, it doesn't bode well for what's to come.

Even Richard Nixon released more years of returns than Romney has so far. Really, need I say more?

No one who cares about the outcome of this election should let this slide. Just five years of tax returns -- that's all we're asking.

Join me and help put the pressure on:

[url]

Messina

Jim Messina Campaign Manager Obama for America

----- Election Day is closer than you think -- make a donation to fund this campaign in the time we have left.

Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible.

When Barack Obama first ran for president, he released eight years of tax returns and has continued to release his returns every year in the White House.

Mitt Romney: Just one full year.

Ignoring calls from the public, the press, and even members of his own party, Romney is refusing to disclose several years of returns and it's raising more questions than he's been willing to answer. He says we'll never be satisfied no matter how many years he releases. So I am committing to something:

I wrote a letter to the Romney campaign, asking for the release of just five years of tax returns -- and if they do, our campaign in turn will commit to dropping the subject of releasing more returns.

There are no excuses that are acceptable for someone who wants to be elected president. If he has nothing to hide, there is absolutely no reason not to follow three decades of precedent and come clean with the American people.

Add your name to the call for Romney to join President Obama in this basic act of transparency:

[url]

This issue isn't going away, and for good reason.

Romney is asking the American people to look at his experience in the private sector and trust him to execute his authority at the highest level of government, in the most powerful country in the world.

But that experience is raising serious questions, including why he started -- and continues to own -- a corporation offshore in Bermuda, why he keeps his finances offshore in the Cayman Islands, and why he opened a Swiss bank account.

Maybe there's a good explanation for all of it, but it's beside the point: If he wants to be president, Romney has an obligation to open up with the American people.

Tell Romney he should follow 30 years of precedent and release his tax returns -- just five years will do:

[url]

Messina

Jim Messina Campaign Manager Obama for America

----- Election Day is closer than you think -- make a donation to fund this campaign in the time we have left:

[url] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Paid for by Obama for America

Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible.