Romney says he won’t release tax returns

Mitt Romney said he will not release his tax returns if he wins the Republican nomination for president, a rare move for a candidate.

When asked if he would, Romney, in an unaired segment of an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, said that he doesn’t “intend to” release the returns.

“I doubt it. I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth,” he said, according to video provided by NBC.

When Todd pointed out that Romney had asked Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) to release his returns during their 1994 race, Romney reiterated his remarks.

“Never say never but I don’t intend to do so,” he said.

President Obama’s campaign blasted Romney’s statement.

“By declaring that, if nominated, he would not release his income tax returns, Mitt Romney is defying a practice to which every party nominee, Republican and Democrat, has adhered for decades,” said Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt. “Even his father, George Romney, disclosed his tax returns when he ran for president in 1968. Why does Gov. Romney feel like he can play by a different set of rules? What is it that he doesn’t want the American people to see?”

Nearly every presidential candidate in modern history has released his or her tax returns.

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