Mitt Romney paid no taxes for ten years
| Mitt Romney paid no taxes for ten years | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney paid no federal income taxes for ten years." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Fabrication Propaganda Technique |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2012 |
| Origin | Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing an unnamed investor in Romney's former firm, Bain Capital, in an interview in July 2012 and in a speech on the Senate floor in August 2012 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-27 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The claim that Mitt Romney paid no taxes for ten years was made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, during the 2012 presidential campaign. Reid said an unnamed investor in Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney co-founded, had told him that Romney had not paid taxes for a decade. He repeated the claim on the floor of the US Senate, where members are protected from defamation lawsuits for their speech. Reid never produced evidence or identified the source. Romney released his 2011 tax return and a summary from his accountants showing that he had paid federal income taxes every year from 1990 to 2009. Years later, asked whether he regretted the claim, Reid replied that Romney had not won the election.
The claim
Romney, a wealthy former businessman, had released only limited tax information, and his low effective tax rate, a result of income taxed mostly as capital gains, was a campaign issue. In a July 31, 2012, interview with The Huffington Post, Reid said a Bain investor had called him and said Romney had not paid taxes for ten years. On August 2 Reid repeated the allegation in a Senate speech and challenged Romney to prove otherwise by releasing his tax returns.
What the evidence shows
- No evidence. Reid did not name his source or provide any documentation. It was unclear how a Bain investor would know the details of Romney's personal tax returns.
- Romney's disclosures. In September 2012 the Romney campaign released his 2011 tax return and a letter from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers summarizing his returns from 1990 to 2009. It stated that he had paid federal income tax every year, with an average effective federal tax rate of about 20 percent, along with state taxes.
- Fact-checkers. PolitiFact rated Reid's claim "Pants on Fire," its lowest rating, and other fact-checkers found it unsupported.
- Reid's later comment. In a 2015 CNN interview, asked whether the claim had been "McCarthyite," Reid said he did not regret it and remarked that Romney did not win.
Why it persists
The episode is often cited as an example of a politician making a damaging accusation with no evidence, using the protection of the Senate floor and shifting the burden of proof to the target. Reid's later remark suggested that the claim's political usefulness mattered more than its truth. It also shows that such tactics are used across the political spectrum.
Lessons for readers
- Claims based solely on unnamed sources with no documentation deserve skepticism.
- Be wary of accusations that demand the target prove a negative.
- Legal privilege, such as protection for speech in a legislature, can shield unsupported claims.
- Consider whether a claim's purpose is to inform or simply to damage.
- Hold politicians of all parties to the same standard.
See also
- Hillary Clinton landed under sniper fire in Bosnia
- Barack Obama was born in Kenya
- Kathy Castor repeatedly broke the congressional insider trading law
Sources
- Ryan Grim, "Harry Reid: Bain Investor Told Me That Mitt Romney 'Didn't Pay Any Taxes For 10 Years'," The Huffington Post, July 31, 2012.
- Romney for President, release of 2011 tax return and PricewaterhouseCoopers letter on 1990–2009 returns, September 21, 2012.
- PolitiFact, "Harry Reid says Bain investor told him Mitt Romney didn't pay any taxes for 10 years," August 2012.
- CNN interview with Harry Reid, March 2015.