White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, asked about Mitt Romney’s reluctance to release his tax returns, echoed a talking point of President Obama’s campaign press secretary, noting that Mitt Romney’s father released his tax returns when he ran for president.
“It’s not for us to call on someone to release his tax records, but it is an established tradition for presidential candidates to release their tax records,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. “I think it was a tradition that was initiated by then-presidential candidate George Romney, who released tax records for 12 years” when he ran for president in 1968.
Ben LaBolt, Obama’a campaign press secretary, made a similar point back in December. “Mitt Romney is defying a practice to which every party nominee, Republican and Democrat, has adhered for decades,” LaBolt told NBC. “Even his father, George Romney, disclosed his tax returns when he ran for President in 1968.”
“The tradition [of releasing tax returns] is not a law, but its well established,” Carney said today. “And we think it’s a good idea.
