Reid Remains Adamant Against Releasing His Tax Returns

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid continues to withhold his tax returns from the public, even as he also continues to demand that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney release more of his tax information.

Reid said at a news conference in Nevada Monday that the financial disclosure forms he fills out as a member of Congress are a sufficient substitute, Politico reports. But those disclosures don’t include detailed tax information.

“I’m a member of Congress now, I don’t make too much money,” said Reid, whose net worth was estimated at $10 million in 2010. “But it’s all listed every year.”

Conservatives have pointed out Reid’s hypocrisy in calling for data from Romney that he won’t provide himself. The senator has claimed that Romney didn’t pay taxes for a decade.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal Monday published comments Reid made in 1974, saying, “Any man or woman who will not be completely candid about his or her finances does not deserve to be in public office.”

Asked about those remarks, Reid said, “In 1974, I wasn’t in Congress. All you have to do is go look. I file every year, every stock trade, every piece of land I buy, all the money I have, it has the value of my homes, it’s got it all there.”

Reid says his source for the allegation that Romney didn’t pay any taxes for 10 years is an investor in Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by the candidate. But while Romney has demanded that Reid “put up [the name of the source] or shut up,” the majority leader has refused.