Ryan will release two years of tax returns; says he gave Romney team 'several years'
(CNN) – Rep. Paul Ryan said Sunday he gave Mitt Romney's vice presidential vetting team "several years" of personal income tax returns, and that he would release two years of those returns to the public – the same number as Romney, the presumptive GOP nominee.
Democrats, as well as some Republicans, have called on Romney to release more than his 2010 and 2011 information, saying the voting public is entitled to know more about a candidate's financial history. Romney has consistently responded by saying his level of disclosure is beyond the legal amount and that two years give a good reflection of his tax situation.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
"It was a very exhaustive vetting process," Ryan said on CBS' "60 Minutes." "It's a confidential vetting process, so there were several years. But I'm going to release the same amount of years that Gov. Romney has."
A spokesman for Ryan later confirmed that the presumptive vice presidential nominee would release two years of income tax returns "as soon as we're ready."
Romney has disclosed his income tax returns from 2010, and released an estimate of his 2011 tax information in April. He has vowed to release 2011's full return one it's completed by his accountant.
Democrats say the lack of disclosure puts Romney at odds with a precedent for presidential candidates set by his father, George, the former Michigan governor who released 12 years of his tax returns when running for president in 1968.
Some Republican observers, including the editorial pages of the National Review and the New Hampshire Union Leader, have urged Romney to release more of his returns to quiet the political debate.
Ryan said Sunday that voters weren't interested in his or Romney's taxes, and were looking for the two presidential campaigns to return to substantive issues of economic policies.
"What I hear from people around this country, they're not asking, 'Where are the tax returns?' They're asking where the jobs are. 'Where's the economic growth?' Those are the issues that matter," Ryan said.
The calls for more disclosure "are more or less distractions to try and take us off the fact that the president has given us failed policies that aren't working," Ryan said, saying the Republican campaign would instead "focus on what it takes to turn this country around and get people back to work."
CNN National Political Correspondent Jim Acosta contributed to this report.
- Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November.
From CNN Politics
- Georgia prosecutors considering racketeering and conspiracy charges in probe of effort to overturn Trump's 2020 loss, source says
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Untitled
- Capitol Police see no current threat to US Capitol after Trump calls for supporters to protest potential indictment
- Untitled
- Trump's legal team seeks to throw out special grand jury report on 2020 election interference in Georgia
Ah yes, can't upstage the secretive, sect-member bossman.
Of course he's only releasing two years. Ryan's a Libertarian who inherited a construction company from his father. To people like that evading taxes is considered a high virtue. Ryan's tax dodging schemes are probably even more unseemly than Romney's. That's probably why Romney picked him in the first place – he was the only candidate who could match Romney for corruption and graft.
America does not want to see Romney's taxes? Mr. Ryan, have you looked at a poll concerning that issue?
Of course he won't release more or it will make Romney look bad. And then he says:
"What I hear from people around this country, they're not asking, 'Where are the tax returns?' They're asking where the jobs are. 'Where's the economic growth?' Those are the issues that matter," Ryan said.
Deflecting much? He is as much of a hack as Romney is though I doubt he has screwed the government out of as many tax dollars as Romney has with his vast wealth. These two are made for each other. But not America.
Show us your TAX Returns Mr. Romney!
We're only the American people. Two years of tax returns is all we deserve!
Well of course he is only releasing the smae number of years as Romney – that's all he can do. To release more would almost force Romney to release more as well. Everybody knows Romney is hiding some serious stuff in those returns. How little he paid in taxes, how much he has squirreled away outside the US and the fact that he did not meet the residency requirements for Governor in the state of Massachusettes.
Well, he's in good company, now that Rmoney has set the precedent.
Paul Ryan wants to kill Medicare and Social Security and lower taxes for the rich(capital gains) to zero.
Robbing from the old and the sick to give to the super rich.
they both need to release ten years worth; anything less is insufficient and unacceptable.
Ryan said Sunday that voters weren't interested in his or Romney's taxes,..............................I vote, I'm interested.
Two peas in the same pod. Both will be eaten by Obama.
Disgracefull and an affront to American voters.
They should be ashamed.
Even the IRS is allowed to go back 6 years.
What are Romney and Ryan hiding?
.
And with that Mitt's tax returns (or lack of) are front page news.
Romney is hiding his taxes before an election yet the public knows it and pretends it doesnt matter! The bad part about it is like all previous elections we'll wait until Romney cause a screwup and we'll find out his taxes were a scandal after the fact.
UNBELIEVABLE
If Romney cannot disclose his taxes he should be replaced.... WHAT IS WRONG WITH AMERICA THAT WE TOLERATE THIS FROM CANDIDATES BEFORE AN ELECTION??????????????
This is where Ryan and Romney are wrong, we are very interested in why you arent releasing more years worth of tax returns. You are clearly hiding something or else this would be a non issue for you.
George Romney resisted releasing a single year of taxes, arguing that it wouldn't present an accurate picture...but then he made a surprising offer: He would release the past 12 years of tax returns...That way, it wouldn't look like a
stunt
Two years?Wow! twice as many as Romney.
Let's ALL hide our money so it can't be taxed and then see how the economy grows. At least 50% of us ARE asking to see the tax returns. The house has had 2 years to turn the economy around and to create jobs, oh wait, that's only Obama's job. This Herman & Eddy Munster show is already a joke!
Actually, voters do care, especially independent ones. Show us 10 years or go home.
Yes, please, tell us what you want us to be concerned about, rather than what we are.
cant make romney look bad by doing the RIGHT THING
instead he cosigns this bad behavior...by following in lockstep.....i can only imagine what else these guys just "go along with" in mob mentality
Another Tax cheat and draft dodger.
Where are the tax returns?!
Signed,
A Voter