Lakhota
Diamond Member
By Zach Carter and Jason Cherkis
WASHINGTON -- GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney released his 379-page tax return for 2011 on Friday. Enclosed were the names of his foreign investments, the addresses of his Cayman Islands interests, and the performance of his Goldman Sachs funds. Absent, however, was any information about the household help the Romneys employ to maintain their various estates.
This lack of transparency stands in contrast to Romney's 2010 return, which listed $20,603 in wages paid to four "household employees" all in one state, presumably Massachusetts. Household employees include "babysitters, drivers, nannies, caretakers, health aides, private nurses, cleaning people, housekeepers and yard workers," according to the IRS.
Romney left the 2011 form detailing payroll taxes for his household help blank, attaching a note to explain that they would be reported quarterly on a separate form. A campaign spokesperson told The Huffington Post that the task had been outsourced to a payroll company.
There is no financial benefit or penalty associated with filing this information every three months instead of once a year. But, as with his 2010 tax return, Romney is utilizing a narrow definition of the term "tax return" to avoid releasing some of his tax documents to the public. In 2010, for instance, Romney declined to release a form associated with his Swiss bank account. While required by the IRS, the foreign bank account form is filed separately from the tax return, allowing Romney to withhold the document while boasting about his campaign's transparency for releasing a year's worth of tax returns.
Experts questioned the timing of the move and its nature.
More: Mitt Romney Tax Return Reveals GOP Candidate Outsourced Payroll, Shielding Household Labor Costs