The New Tax Calculator: President Obama’s Plan vs. Mitt Romney’s
We asked people to use our new tax calculator to compare President Obama's tax plan to Mitt Romney's. This is what they found out.
Who’s behind political ads?
The media has been called the fourth estate. It is responsible for holding officials accountable and should be a watchdog for the people. But what happens when the media refuses to be transparent? In 2012 political ads will be aired all over TV earning the news corporations over $3 billion in revenue. Now the FCC wants to reveal to the public who is behind the ads, but the mainstream media is fighting the notion. Christopher Chambers, journalism professor at Georgetown University, joins us with his take on the idea.
Romney Defending Tax Return Stance Says ‘Not A Business’
Mitt Romney, defending his refusal to release more than two years of tax returns, said, unlike a company being evaluated by a potential investor, he shouldn’t have to provide more details of his finances for public vetting.
“I’m not a business,” the presumed Republican presidential nominee said in an Aug. 7 interview with Bloomberg Businessweek when asked whether he would want to see five years of financial information for a firm in which he might invest.
Mitt Romney during a campaign event with Republican Governors at Basalt Public High School on August 2, 2012 in Colorado. Photographer: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Aug. (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Representative Tom Perriello, a Democrat from Virginia, talks about presumed Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s tax plan. Perriello, president and chief executive officer of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, speaks with Betty Liu on Bloomberg Television’s “In the Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg)
“We have a process in this country, which was established by law, which provides for the transparency which candidates are required to meet,” he said. “I have met with that requirement with full financial disclosure of all my investments, but in addition have provided and will provide a full two years of tax returns.”
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive whose fortune is estimated at about $250 million, has faced increasing calls -- both from Democrats questioning whether he dodged paying taxes and Republicans eager to put the issue to rest -- to release more tax filings that would shed light on his investments and financial activities.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, has been the most outspoken on the issue, recently claiming that he had been told by someone with knowledge of Romney’s finances that the Republican hadn’t paid taxes for a decade.
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