John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator and former Republican presidential candidate reportedly has all of former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s tax returns.
In 2008, Mr. Romney reportedly gave 23 years of his tax returns to Mr. McCain in an attempt to be selected as his vice presidential running mate at the time, The Washington Post reports.
Former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin was ultimately selected as the Arizona Republican’s running mate at the time.
The Bain Capital co-founder released his most recent tax returns on Tuesday, showing he’s earned over $40 million in the last two years, the majority of which came from investments and dividends. His rival Republican presidential candidates had been urging him to release them for weeks.
“I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more,” said Mr. Romney during the Republican presidential candidate debate in Florida Monday.
What’s interesting though is that Senator McCain and his staff still have the 23 years of tax returns that Mr. Romney submitted in 2008 leading up to the presidential election.
Mr. McCain has not commented on those tax returns, and does not seem to have any plans to release them. He endorsed Mr. Romney in early January, a surprising move considering how heated their rivalry became in 2008 as both of them were seeking the Republican presidential nomination.
Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director Luis Heredia released a statement Friday criticizing Mr. McCain for not releasing the 23 years of tax returns that he has had in his possession for the past four years.
“According to a recent Washington Post story, Mitt Romney provided John McCain with 23 years of tax returns when he was trying to become McCain’s vice president. Why should Arizonans and the rest of the country have less information about Romney than McCain?” said Mr. Herdia Friday.
Up until this week, Mr. Romney had consistently refused to release his tax returns, but eventually gave in after mounting pressure from rival Newt Gingrich. During that entire time, and following his endorsement of Mr. Romney, Mr. McCain had remained mum about the 23 years of tax returns he was holding onto.
“If McCain believed in the principles he preaches on transparency, he would call on Romney to provide voters with more than just the one year of tax returns he has disclosed. Then again, maybe he doesn’t want Americans to know why Romney was a distant second to Sarah Palin,” said Mr Herdia.
Mr. Romney remains the likely favorite to win the Republican nomination for 2012.
Mr. McCain’s reluctance to release the tax returns that Mr. Romney submitted to him is likely to remain an issue that the Obama administration will highlight if the president ends up facing Mr. Romney in the fall.
