Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is not backing off the Democratic attack over Mitt Romney’s tax returns, supporting one Senate leader’s claim that the presumptive Republican nominee might not have paid taxes in 10 years.
Several times this week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., attacked Romney over his lack of tax returns, saying an unnamed source told him Romney hasn’t paid taxes in a decade. Reid said the burden of proof was on Romney. Schumer defended his colleague’s comments.
“Every day Mitt Romney has to talk about tax returns is a bad day for him and a good day for the Democrats,” Schumer said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. “They’re trying to focus this on Harry Reid. There's an 800-pound elephant in the room. It's called unreleased taxes.”
The New York Democrat continued, repeating the call by Democrats and many Republicans: Romney should just release his tax returns.
“Guess what? Few things we know about Mitt Romney's taxes—Cayman Islands, Swiss bank accounts—raised more questions than they answer,” Schumer said. “He should rip off the Band-Aid now. He should have done it two years ago. No one could understand why.”
At a campaign event in Denver on Thursday, Romney called the attack “baloney,” attacking Reid’s lack of evidence.
“It’s time for Harry to put up or shut up,” Romney said. “Harry’s gonna have to describe who he spoke with, because of course that’s totally and completely wrong. It’s untrue, dishonest, and inaccurate. It’s wrong. So I’m looking forward to having Harry reveal his sources, and we’ll probably find out it’s the White House.”