Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., defended Mitt Romney’s use of foreign tax havens, contending that “it’s really American to avoid paying taxes, legally.”
Graham said Tuesday that the problem is with the complex Tax Code, not with the tax strategies used by Romney. “As long as it was legal, I’m OK with it,” he said, according to the
Romney has come in for increasing criticism for his use of foreign tax haven countries such as Switzerland and the Cayman Islands in the blind trusts set up for him and his wife Ann. A recent
But much of the information about Romney’s finances is still murky, and he has claimed he does not manage them since they have been put into a blind trust ever since he was governor of Massachusetts. Nevertheless the blind trust has invested in a company run by one of his sons. The Obama campaign has begun to run ads critical of Romney’s use of foreign bank accounts.
Graham compared tax avoidance to a game. "Every American tries to find the way to get the most deductions they can,” he said. “I see nothing wrong with playing the game because we set it up to be a game." However, Graham added that he wants to end the game by simplifying the Tax Code along the lines of the recommendations by the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission. But he said has no problem with people playing the game “as long as they don’t cheat.”