In the spirit of “trout whacking” I am on board with Captain Ed on candidates having to release their tax returns:
Beyond that, though, no one has made a compelling case for these releases. Common Cause may claim that releasing the returns are “reasonable” for presidential candidates, but what do they really tell us? They may give some insight into charitable contributions and a voyeuristic look into the income streams of the rich and famous, but they tell us little about the policies favored by the candidates. Offhand, I cannot think of a single major revelation about a candidate that came from the released tax returns that had an impact on an election.
Personal income had been considered a private affair before Watergate. After that scandal, which had nothing to do with tax evasion, candidates seized on the release of their 1040s as some sort of honesty test. It might be time to recognize that private income should remain private, and that tax returns give us little germane data about the candidates.
About Lance
I want to thank everybody who has encouraged me over the past few years to do this. I doubt it will hold but a few people's interest, but that is okay with me. Special thanks go to Peter over at http://www.liberalcapitalist.com.
I value my privacy a great deal, so I will guess you will have to get to know me over time to find out much. I am in the financial services, wealth management, investing or whatever you want to call it business. I have children, my oldest is entering college.
I have no great or imposing academic background, my grades varied from high enough to get invited to an honors program at my university to frustrating enough to cause my father great grief. My major was history, with a minor in ethics. My main interest towards the end was in the history of economic ideas before life took a turn and I ended up never going on to graduate school. However, I have a fair knowledge of history, economics, investing and would probably be considered well read. My tastes are eclectic and I pretty much find the entire world interesting.
I have an enduring interest in how people learn about and analyze the world; my posts here will examine this topic in detail over time. I make no claims to be above the very biases and errors I see in others, in fact it is my belief that we are incapable of escaping them, only moderating their control over us.
I am a member of no political party, but I would broadly consider myself a man of the right. I am inclined to free market economics, limited government and a fairly narrow view of the role of the state. A small L libertarian if you will. However, if you are looking for broad based "the left believes..." or "wingers are so...." types of attacks on liberals, conservatives, neo-cons or whatever enemy you want to slam, look elsewhere.
Lance
Horse feathers. You can tell a lot from a candidates tax form. What are his outside income streams? Is he basing his votes on his financial interest? Does he talk green but invest in polluting industries? All candidates should be required to make public this information. The more we know about a person seeking to represent us, the better we can judge if they deserve our vote. It’s all about transparency.
I don’t want transparency on a candidates private lives. For one thing it is just as liklely to obscure and confuse as enlighten us.
Theoretically we can find out all that you say, but we know what the major streams of income for the candidates are already. I don’t need to know about their spending patterns, I don’t need to know exactly how much they make from each of those streams, I don’t need to know who they claim as dependents, etc. I know that Edwards worked for Fortress Capital. How does it change whether I will or will not vote for him if he made 2 million or 20 million. It would make no difference to me. The policy they support is either good or bad. If it is bad, I don’t care if their motives are pure. If it is good, I don’t care that much either.