Harry Reid slams Romney's "47 percent" remark, again demands tax returns
(CBS News) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday spent nearly seven minutes on the Senate floor attacking Mitt Romney's "47 percent" remarks and once again demanding the GOP nominee release more of his tax returns.
A recently released video, taped secretly during a fundraiser in Florida, captures Romney declaring that that 47 percent of Americans consider themselves "victims" and will never be convinced by Republicans to "take personal responsibility and care for their lives." Reciting a segment of the remarks, Reid read Romney's comment that "These are the people who pay no income tax."
"For all we know, Mitt Romney could be one of those who have paid no federal income tax," Reid said Wednesday. "Thousands of families making more than $1 million pay nothing in federal income taxes each year... Is Mitt Romney among those? We'll never know, since he refuses to release tax returns from the years before he was running for president.
"From that one return - only one we've seen - we know Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than middle-class families, thanks to a number of things he's done: Swiss bank accounts, Cayman Islands tax shelters," Reid added. "And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns, like his dad did."
Last month, Reid took to the Senate floor to announce that he had it on good authority that Romney hasn't paid taxes in over a decade, though he did not provide evidence.
