How do we go about ensuring that any Presidential candidate releases 10 years of tax returns?
Okay with the election in the rear view mirror (and what a great reflection it is!) time to quickly think through specific actions / lessons from Campaign 2012 to be sure we are ready for the future. There is much to speak about here (e.g. how ever powerful our GOTV was - here in MA it was not WIFI / Mobile enabled. As a result critical data from canvassers in the field was delayed in getting back to the GOTV mother ship ....we need to fix that and it is an easy thing to fix. Indeed its appalling in this day and age that this is still the case. I might diary on that that later) but for this diary I want to focus on one thing and one thing only that we urgently need to address- Mitt's Tax Returns.
The fact that his returns were never released is appalling and indeed frightening. The fact that he was not run out of town by the media on this point is even more frightening - we have reached a "new normal." In a post Romney world it is now acceptable to put out minimal financial data. I suspect that Mitt is not the exception he is going to become the rule. Regardless of party that is simply not acceptable for all the obvious reasons this community already knows, In our victory bliss we cannot forget that the electorate never saw a major candidates returns with enough context / detail to understand conflicts and so many other points! Yes we spoke about it but it was accepted - wow! How scary! The disclosure Rubicon was crossed in 2012 and unless action is taken the next incredibly wealthy candidate might very well do the same.
So my question to this community is how do we action and solve this problem? Is it a state by state drive to require ten years of releases as a condition precedent for being on a ballot in a particular state? Is it a national law? What say you Community Kos? Lets never let this happen again - what is the best way? Thanks for any thoughts you might share.