@miki Welcome to Fluther, and congratulations on asking a great question.
All candidates for federal office have to file a financial disclosure form, and it can be validated by the IRS, who already does have their tax filings. There is no legal requirement that presidential candidates release their tax returns. The high comedy of politics is that It’s been customary since Mitt Rooney’s dad, George Romney released 12 years of his returns when running for the nomination in the 1968 primaries. He said showing one year or even 5 years wasn’t enough, because knowing he was going to run, he might have filed them for show purposes. The Joke is his son doesn’t want to release any, and if at all, just the one he will have his accounting firm write in April after he has hopefully already won the nomination, and which he can tailor just for public release. There is no question that that return will show him paying the maximum legal rate of 2011 income.
The returns that would really tell us something about Mitt Romney’s use of tax shelters and quasi-legal cheating would be those between 1984 and 1999 while he was the CEO of Bain Capital. He may have hundreds of millions in income he has not yet paid any taxes on, and will not have to pay on till he dies. He may have tens of millions hidden in offshore tax shelters. There is no earthly way he will ever release anything that shows that, far from paying 15% on his $200 million plus of earnings since 1984, he has actually paid more like 5% while his secretary probably pays 30% on her income.
The question it goes to is who the nominee puts first, the people of America or self interests. Do we want a person leading our country who could care less about it and its ordinary people, and puts his own interests above all else? That’s why it matters.