Chris Christie Abandons Straight Talk On Romney’s Tax Returns

January 25, 2012

Chris Christie Abandons Straight Talk On Romney’s Tax Returns After Calling on Romney to Release Extensive Tax Returns, Governor Christie Reverses Course (Trenton) Yesterday Governor Christie congratulated Mitt Romney for releasing “extensive” tax returns, despite the fact that Romney’s release of returns for only two years falls far short of the standard Governor Christie laid out: "The way I've conducted myself in my public life all along is I've released all my tax returns, and I did it during the campaign," Christie previously said in an interview with MSNBC, noting that he "went back a number of years and released my tax returns, and I've released them every year after I filed them -- right after I filed them to the public in New Jersey so they can see everything. And I think that's the right way to go, and that's what I would tell Gov. Romney to do." In response to Christie’s Romney-esque flip-flop on Romney’s tax returns, New Jersey Democratic Party Chairman John Wisniewski released the following statement: “As a candidate for office and as Governor, Chris Christie publicly released his tax returns for multiple years. It strains credulity for him to say that Mitt Romney’s release of returns from two years is ‘extensive' when he knows full well these returns do not provide sufficient information for Americans to be able to evaluate Mitt Romney’s investments and determine if there are any financial conflicts that could cloud Mitt Romney’s judgment,” said Wisniewski. “If Governor Christie really believed in tough talk, he’d ask Mitt Romney why it was okay for him to release 23 years’ worth of tax returns to the McCain campaign when he was being vetted for a spot on the ticket while the American people can only see full returns for two years." “Furthermore, these returns still don’t show how much in U.S. taxes Mitt Romney is avoiding by keeping money in famous tax havens from the Caymans to Bermuda – all while he continues to pay a lower tax rate than most police and firefighters, teachers and small business owners.”