When the IRS audits, they go where the money is. Mitt Romney is definitely one of those “where the money is” examples. If Romney has done anything illegal in his tax returns, I bet he has been audited and examined with a microscope by the IRS.
I doubt there are many Americans who pay more to the IRS than they owe. There are many of us who use deductions provided in the tax code — IRAs, medical deductions, home loan interest. The very rich are able to take advantage of more deductions. These may be wrong, but who in their right mind wouldn’t take advantage of them?
Past presidential candidates have kept things private. McCain released two years of tax returns, Obama has not released information about college, Bush tried to keep his DUI private, and Clinton kept his medical records confidential. We know Romney is rich. We also know a lot about what he has done with his money: He tithes to his church, he has a charitable foundation, he gave all of his inheritance to Brigham Young University, he donated his Olympic salary to charity, and gave $1 million to the Olympics.
Tax returns are just some of the minutia the press, campaigns and public focus on to avoid looking at the big picture and the real question of what this election is about. The real question is, “Do you want the government to have all the power, or do you want to empower the individual?”
Americans need to be concerned about what is happening behind the scenes in the current administration. The DHS, EPA, Justice Department and HHS all are enacting regulations that are putting burdens on businesses here in Kentucky. We need to demand transparency; we need to demand it from those in power right now.
We don’t need to worry about how a private individual spent his money while not in public office. We need to find out how those in public office are spending our money and how they plan to take it from us in the future.
Janet Gordon
Hustonville
