4 reasons Mitt Romney's tax returns could hurt him

The super-rich GOP frontrunner is already taking heat for his 15 percent tax rate. But the real fireworks may start when he releases his tax documents in April

ABC News reports that Mitt Romney has millions of dollars parked in offshore tax havens like the Cayman Islands, potentially creating a big political problem for the Republican.
(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

"How did a campaign as well run as Mitt Romney's so badly botch the issue of his tax returns?" asks Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post. It was inevitable that he would have to release at least this year's tax return. And "by choosing to pull off the Band-Aid with excruciating slowness" — first saying he wouldn't make his tax documents public, then saying he might, then admitting that his effective tax rate is about 15 percent, a lower rate than families earning $50,000 a year — Romney has "guaranteed maximum attention to the tax issue." But the biggest damage could still be ahead, when he actually releases his tax returns in April. Here, four ways Romney's tax records could cripple his run for the White House:

1. Romney could have big money in dodgy offshore tax havens

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