The Obama campaign offered to stop asking for copies of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s tax returns if he would release five years’ worth in total. The Romney camp declined.
In a letter this morning to Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina offered to stop criticizing Romney over tax transparency if he would release just three more years’ worth of returns, in addition to the 2010 return he has already released, and the 2011 return he has pledged to release.
In his reply, Rhoades said the Romney campaign intended to focus on the issues, and that their rivals were simply looking for more ammunition to use against them.
The Obama campaign has questioned if there were years in which Romney might not have paid taxes at all. On Thursday, Romney told reporters that he had checked his returns, and had never paid less than 13 percent in tax over the past decade.
