Mitt Romney in trouble over money

Although it is not apparent on his financial disclosure form, Mitt Romney has millions of dollars of his personal wealth in investment funds set up in the Cayman Islands, a notorious Caribbean tax haven.


A spokesperson for the Romney campaign says Romney follows all tax laws and he would pay the same in taxes regardless of where the funds are based.


As the race for the Republican nomination heats up, Mitt Romney is finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a shroud of secrecy around the details about his vast personal wealth, including, as ABC News has discovered, his investment in funds located offshore and his ability to pay a lower tax rate.


"His personal finances are a poster child of what's wrong with the American tax system," said Jack Blum, a Washington lawyer who is an authority on tax enforcement and offshore banking.


On Tuesday, Romney disclosed that he has been paying a far lower percentage in taxes than most Americans, around 15 percent of his annual earnings. It has been Romney's Republican rivals who have driven the tax issue onto center stage. For weeks, Romney has cited a desire for privacy as his reason for not sharing his tax returns -- a gesture of transparency that is now expected from presidential contenders.


The father of our country, George Washington, was worth $525 million in today's currency according to research done by Atlantic Magazine. Teddy Roosevelt worth $125 million. The Kennedy family... wait for it... worth about $1 billion. JFK lived entirely off his trust fund. John Kerry worth about $300 million when ran for President in 2004.
The truth is many who go into public service are rich folks. Now you can decide if Mitt Romney is some kind of insensitive greed head. Certainly his opponents are painting him that way but please consider this. The capitalistic system we have in this country is based on freedom. Freedom to earn as much as you can provided you do it honestly.
Do some Americans have unfair advantages? Of course, they do. And some folks don't like that, demanding more income equality from our free enterprise system.
But as President Obama's term in office demonstrates, the more the feds try to create so-called social justice, the more debt piles up leading to inevitable outcries of tax the rich further.
As we pointed out Monday, the top one percent in this country now pay 37 percent of the total income tax yet the President believes that is not their fair share. He and the Democratic Party want even more.
Mitt Romney has been far too passive in the face of personal attacks on his wealth. He should release his tax returns and vigorously defend the system that has enriched him. If he doesn't, he will not become president.