Which issue is more damaging to Romney:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

The refusal of Romney to release his tax forms (which Mitt has all but admitted has some stuff on there that could be spun against him) or the fact that between 1999-2002 it is unclear as to who exactly was in charge at Bain? Romney says he wasn't, that he was "retroactively retired" (a puzzling concept to most people) but then there are supposedly SEC filings that show he was still there and in charge. Personally, I think that the Bain issue is more potent in that it proves either that Romney is lying (which is already par for the course) and possibly even lied to the SEC about where he was and what he was doing from 1999-2002 (and who was actually in charge- where are they?) or that he signed off on some questionable or at least undesirable stuff during that time period. Either way, it looks more damaging than what might be on his tax returns, which could mostly be spun away as "technically legal".

[SoutherDem]

1. Good question, I think Taxes and I will explain.

The tax returns may be a bigger impact to the "common" people, because they are paying taxes and don't have all of the loopholes or tax shelters Romney does. For them this could be the biggest blow. It will show he games the system and will be "tricky Mitt" while in the White House.

Bain may be able to be "technically" explained away to the point the "common" people will understand.

Over all Taxes will make a bigger impact.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. Good analysis

I think you may have a point. It could also help frame President Obama's narrative about the 1% and the kind of benefits and tax gambits they get to enjoy that the 99% don't.

[Xyzse]

3. Perhaps

Though I am mostly curious about his Tax Returns to see how it relates to 1999-present in regards to Bain capital.

[rufus dog]

4. I think taxes too

A couple of years ago I read an article on what some of the Hedge fund managers were doing to avoid taxes.

Let's say they made a bit over one million a year, they funneled the money into an annuity and then took out a loan for one million. (The loans were provided to the preferred class) Then they offset the income, one million, versus the loan, one million and only paid the 15% on the income claimed that was greater than the loan amount.

The articles point was not only were they paying little to no taxes, they were also pushing for the end of the Death Tax, which means they could go their entire lives without paying taxes.

Based upon Reid's statement it appears that Romney may be one of those using questionable tactics to avoid taxes.

[Arkana]

5. The tax returns.

Bain is pretty much boilerplate stuff unless the Obama campaign is sitting on a huge bombshell--yes, we know Romney's a scummy outsourcing robot.

But the tax returns thing is just bizarre. It's not an unreasonable request--every candidate since his own father has released a gazillion years of tax returns. What makes Romney so special?