Read My Lips: No You Cannot See My Taxes

Bill White remains defiant, says “That’s not a real issue” as multiple media outlets call on him to release income tax returns

On Day 9 of Bill White refusing to release his income tax returns, the Beaumont Enterprise joined a growing chorus of media outlets calling on the former Houston mayor to stop hiding his taxes.

“Liberal Bill White should follow Governor Perry’s lead and releases his taxes,” said Texans for Rick Perry spokesman Mark Miner. “What is Bill White afraid of? The people of Texas deserve to know the truth about his finances, the conflicts that might arise if he were elected governor, and what shady business deals he is hiding.”

In an editorial published today titled “Bill White should release his tax returns,” the Beaumont Enterprise writes:

If Bill White wants to get his campaign against Gov. Rick Perry off to a good start, he will release his tax returns. So far, White is refusing to take this obviously right step. While serving as mayor of Houston he did complete financial disclosure forms. He also has said he would release specific information about his returns if there were questions about them. That's not good enough. When candidates release their tax returns, it helps assure voters that they have no skeletons in their financial closets. Perry has released his tax returns since 1996. White doesn't want to do this because he said he has been involved in business partnerships, and he says his tax returns could reveal proprietary information. That concern doesn't trump voters' right to the information. The campaign for governor takes precedence. If White won't release the information, he is telling voters he will always put their interests first - unless they conflict with his own.
(SOURCE: “Bill White should release his tax returns,” Beaumont Enterprise, 3/16/10, http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinion/editorials/bi...)

White was defiant in an interview yesterday with San Antonio’s KENS-5 TV in San Antonio that he would not release his income tax returns, saying, “That’s not a real issue.”

Jeff Vaughn, KENS-5: Texas Watchdog, the website there, says that you have refused to make your taxes public. They say that Governor Rick Perry has. If you have or have not, if so, why, why not?

Bill White: We play by the rules, the same rules that Governor Perry has, that I will release tax returns while I am running for statewide office. But I have made full financial disclosures of all sources of income, under penalty of perjury, for years and years as Houston mayor. That’s not a real issue.

KENS-5: No offense here, but the financial disclosures, if you, and I am not calling you a liar, but if you were to lie on those, there really is no recourse other than to pay a fine. If you lie on taxes, then of course there is jail time involved. So why would you not go ahead and, I would think a lot of people would see as an obligation for you to show us your taxes, to disclose them?

Bill White: I have, I will disclose the taxes on the same basis that Governor Perry and other statewide elected officeholders have as soon as I am doing it. And we will always be available to the media to answer questions concerning what my income is or how much taxes were paid.

KENS-5: Why not now though? It sounds like you would do it after you become governor? Why not now?

Bill White: No, we will be doing it now on the current tax return during the period of time that I am running for governor.

KENS-5: But not the ones prior?

Bill White: Yeah. That’s the same rule as it applies to everybody else.

(SOURCE: “One-on-one: An interview with Dem. nominee Bill White,” KENS-5, 3/15/10, http://www.kens5.com/video/featured-videos/Bill-White-8...)

Texas Monthly’s Paul Burka has called on White to release his taxes:

The second pothole for White was the question of releasing his taxes. He said that he wouldn’t release them. That’s won’t stand. He tried to claim that the returns contained proprietary information about his business partnerships. Of course they do. That’s why they should be disclosed. The public needs to know with whom the governor is involved in private business. If you don’t want to tell the public, don’t run for governor.

(SOURCE: “Read my lips: Maybe new taxes, maybe not,” Burkablog, 3/10/10, http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=6577)

Texas Watchdog has also called on White to release his taxes:

Mayor Bill White: You need to show us the money.

Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison, the two people who dueled for the Republican nomination for governor last week, have both released their personal income tax returns for the past several years. Annise Parker and Gene Locke, the two people who dueled for Bill White's old job last December, have both released their personal income tax returns for the past several years after they were asked to do so by Texas Watchdog.

But when asked to release his personal income tax returns, White, the new Democratic nominee for governor, balked.

From the Chronicle's R.G. Ratcliffe:

White pointed out that he has filed the city of Houston financial disclosure forms, but he declined to promise to release his income tax returns as Perry has done. White said he would release information on the returns if there (were) specific questions ...

WHITE: We'll give you and others information that you ask for about, boy, since 2003, I've had most all of that in the financial statements. But I have been, there has been, during much of that time a partnership interest and a partnership return attached to the tax returns. But I'll provide the various adjusted gross income and stuff like that, and a lot of it, but not those schedules ... I'm a partner, we're, other people are partners in those businesses, and those tax returns are proprietary.

The people who are partners in those businesses need to understand that these are the breaks when one of your business partners becomes a leading candidate for governor. If Parker's business partners and Locke's colleagues at Andrews Kurth law firm had such objections, they got over them.

The financial disclosure forms turned in by White and other city leaders are helpful but nowhere near as complete as tax returns. The disclosure forms require numbers to be reported within ranges and not in specific figures -- for instance, did your partnership in Smith & Co. generate less than $5,000 in income, $5,001-$25,000 in income, or more than $25,000 in income? And that stock you own in Company XYZ -- do you own less than 500 shares, between 501-1,000 shares, or more than 1,0001 shares? Is it bigger than a breadbox?

In other words, if Bill Gates had to fill out that form, he'd only have to report he made more than $25,000 in income. As silly as this sounds, it's true, and it has happened in real life -- Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who is said to be a multimillionaire from his energy-related interests, was at one time reporting that he made more than $25,000 a year in proceeds from a blind trust.

And, without accusing the former mayor (or any of the above-mentioned people) of wrongdoing, it's harder for people to lie on their tax returns to Uncle Sam than it is to lie on the financial disclosure forms. You lie on the disclosure form, the state Ethics Commission may fine you a few hundred bucks -- if they ever find out you lied. You lie on your tax return, you can go to jail even if you're Al Capone and totin' a Tommy gun.

So, come on, Mayor White. Show us the money.

(SOURCE: “Dem gov candidate Bill White refuses to make public his tax returns, unlike GOP nominees for the office, and the Democrats who ran to fill White's old job,” Texas Watchdog, 3/9/10, http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/03/bill-white-refuses...)