Romney's Excuses Get More pathetic

For Willard Mitt Romney (aka Wall Street Willie), there is an issue that just won't go away -- and the reason it won't go away is because he refuses to address it in a believable way. It's the issue of him refusing to release a reasonable amount of his past tax returns. His opponent, President Obama, has released the last 12 years of his own tax returns (the same amount that Willard's own father released when he ran for president). But Willard has only released one partial return (the tax return for 2010, which is conveniently missing the required attachment for foreign accounts and investments).

Willard and his wife have tried to float various reasons for his absolute refusal to release the tax returns, from privacy concerns to it's just none of the voters business. But as bad as those excuses were, he has now come up with one that is just downright pathetic. He now claims that releasing the returns would be a violation of his religious freedom. Here is what he told Parade magazine:

“Our church doesn’t publish how much people have given. This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known. It’s a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church.”

There are a couple of reasons why this excuse is ludicrous. First, it is common knowledge what the mormon church requires of its members -- a 10% tithe. Second, George Romney (his father) and Jon Huntsman (who was one of Willard's primary opponents) didn't seem to think it violated any of their religious rights, since they provided the returns without complaint.

There have been many reasons speculated upon about what Willard is trying to hide by not releasing the returns -- from not paying taxes for several years to trying to hide his real wealth or his tax avoidance schemes with foreign accounts and investments. But this silly statement by Willard makes me think there might be another reason for his refusal -- one I hadn't considered before.

Willard is a high-ranking official in the mormon church, and as such is required to follow church policy. Is it possible that he has been short-changing the church? Has he been paying less (perhaps far less) than the required 10% tithe (while other mormons who make far less pay what is expected of them)? If so, it would put his high position in the church at risk, and embarrass Willard (who publicly claims to be paying the full tithe). I wouldn't doubt that. But whatever the reason, the question remains:

WHAT IS WILLARD MITT ROMNEY TRYING TO HIDE?