Financial Transparency Coalition

Task Force Communications Director Dietlind Lerner and I co-authored an Op-Ed in Politico today:

Mitt Romney’s direction of Bain Capital’s tax avoidance activities now threaten to become a major campaign issue. But how questionable are his actions? We need to ask: “What would I do if I could legally avoid paying income tax?”

In taking advantage of tax regulation for personal gain, Romney followed a legal strategy likely used by countless other businessmen and politicians. But since he is running for office, maybe we need to establish some safe-guards so that such problematic choices are not legally condoned.

A plausible scenario plays out like this: I hire an accountant. Doing her job, my accountant tells me that if I sign a few legal documents and route my money through a small Caribbean island, I could keep more of my paycheck and pay a lower tax rate. I may have earned my money in the United States, but legally I can claim that it was, in fact, earned in a tax haven.

You can read the whole Op-Ed here.