Harry Reid's Anonymous 'Romney Paid No Taxes' Claim Gets a Megaphone
HuffPost reported Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim that an unnamed Bain investor told him Mitt Romney had paid no taxes for ten years, a claim that then spread widely.
The unsupported claim kept pressure on Romney's taxes, a central Democratic attack line in 2012.
What was reported
HuffPost reported Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim that an unnamed Bain investor told him Mitt Romney had paid no taxes for ten years, a claim that then spread widely.
What actually happened
Reid never named his source and admitted he wasn't certain the claim was true; CJR faulted HuffPost for amplifying an unverifiable allegation. PolitiFact rated the claim Pants on Fire. In September 2012, the Romney campaign released a PricewaterhouseCoopers summary showing the Romneys owed federal and state income taxes every year from 1990 to 2009, at an average effective rate of about 20 percent.
The proof
The PwC-prepared 1990-2009 tax summary (released by the campaign and reported by NBC and others) showed taxes paid every year; PolitiFact found no evidence for Reid's claim.
The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:
Harry Reid's Anonymous 'Romney Paid No Taxes' Claim Gets a Megaphone — Debunked. The PwC-prepared 1990-2009 tax summary (released by the campaign and reported by NBC and others) showed taxes paid every year; PolitiFact found no evidence for Reid's claim. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/reid-romney-no-taxes-claim-2012/
Original reporting
- HuffPost: Harry Reid says Bain investor told him Romney paid no taxeshttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/harry-reid-romney-taxes_n_1724027.html
Corrections, findings & records
- PolitiFact: Reid's anonymous-source claim rated Pants on Firehttps://politifact.com/factchecks/2012/aug/06/harry-reid/harry-reid-says-anonymous-source-told-him-mitt-rom/
- NBC News: Romney releases 1990-2009 tax summary showing taxes paid every yearhttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/romney-paid-14-1-percent-effective-tax-rate-2011-flna1b6035957
- CJR: A 'Dart' to HuffPost for the Reid scoophttps://www.cjr.org/united_states_project/dart_to_huffpo_for_awesome_scoop.php
Archived copies
Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.
- Archived copy: HuffPost: Harry Reid says Bain investor told him Romney paid no taxeshttps://web.archive.org/web/2/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/harry-reid-romney-taxes_n_1724027.html