You Want To Know Why Romney Isn't Releasing His Tax Returns? It's Not What You Think-- Take A Peek Behind The Mormon Curtain

A Mormon friend of mine here in L.A. told me that Buck McKeon was so freaked out about being exposed for taking gargantuan bribes from Countrywide-- hundreds of thousands of dollars-- but not because he's afraid of the toothless and pathetic House Ethics Committee, which he knows will do nothing. Instead, he's afraid of the Mormon Mafia. Turns out, he hasn't been giving them their cut of the action.

Mormons are required by Commandment of God to pay 10% of all their GROSS income to the LDS church. This includes all income-- including: employment, unemployment insurance, student loans, Pell grant checks, Social Security income, Medicare, foodstamps, trust funds and any other form of income, even including finding money on the ground.

So... what about Willard? The big news yesterday was that the hereditary multimillionaire is gaming the system so that he's only paying a 15% rate, far less than normal Americans pay. The King of Bain is also the king of tax loopholes. 15% is pretty outrageous in itself.

Romney’s 15 percent rate is likely to draw fire from opponents because it highlights the tax advantages enjoyed by wealthy Americans who make most of their money from investments rather than labor-- a disparity that has been criticized by billionaire Warren Buffett and many Occupy Wall Street protesters.

A report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service recently showed that investment income, of the kind Romney is citing, was the biggest contributor to an increase in income inequality between 1996 and 2006.

Most Americans earn their income from wages and salaries, paying higher tax rates-- up to 35 percent-- the more they earn. The tax on capital gains, which include profits from the sale of stocks, bonds and real estate, is 15 percent.

The wealthy take advantage of this lower rate far more than other Americans. In the last 20 years, about half of all capital gains income realized have gone to the wealthiest 0.1 percent.

Romney’s tax returns could also reignite a debate over how to count income earned by partners at private equity firms. When private equity firms sell long-run investments, those profits are treated as long-term capital gains, which means they’re taxed at no more than 15 percent. Critics say those earnings should be taxed as ordinary income because the partners are mostly managing other people’s money, not their own.

So what about the Mormon connection? What if he's not paying his full tithe? Would that get him in trouble with the LDS Church? More significantly, how would that go over with Mormons who make a modest income yet still do their full 10%? Trying to get inside someone's head isn't very accurate, but how would a guy struggling to get by on a $45,000 income and tithing $4500 (with god knows how many kids) feel to find out that Mitt's doing only 7%, or 5%?

And what if he 's paying his full tithe, which would be a huge number? How would average Americans take to him getting a tax benefit for contributions at that level to a freaking church? ABC News reported today that he even cut the Mormon Church in on many of the shady deals he did at Bain, bankrupting companies and sending thousands of workers to the unemployment lines with his toxic business model. Romney, they report, "carved his church a slice of several of its most lucrative business deals, securities records show, providing it with millions of dollars worth of stock in some of Bain Capital's most well-known holdings." It looks to me though, that he's leaking all kinds of information to try to persuade the Mormon Mafia he's been giving his full tithe, when he was probably cheating them the same way he cheated everyone else.

Tithing always comes first in Mormonism. Any member who is struggling in any way (job loss, broken down car, depression, etc) will always be counseled to pay tithing in order to receive blessings. All blessings, privileges and callings in the LDS Church are centered around tithing. Without paying a full tithe, a member cannot be a "member in good standing."

...The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-Day Saints brings in an estimated 6.5 to 7.0 billion dollars a year in annual tithing revenues. The Church refuses to disclose to the public or its members how much money it receives annually and what those funds are used for. Because the LDS Church is a tax-exempt organization, it does not have to publicly disclose financial books.

In 2005 the LDS Church purchased two shopping malls in Downtown Salt Lake City for $500 million dollars. The Church plans to spend $1 to $3.5 billion dollars renovating them. In official statements from LDS Church, the Church claims that not one dollar of member tithing funds went into the deal.

Mormons are required to attend a Tithing Settlement with the Bishop each year. [Remember, Romney is a Mormon Bishop.] A member is questioned in a one-on-one interview with the Bishop to ensure the member is paying a full 10%. Those members who are not paying a full 10% loose their temple recommends and are prevented from entering the Temple.

Mormons who loose their temple recommends are in serious jeopardy of loosing their Celestial blessings. A Mormon who does not pay tithing cannot enter the temple. If a member cannot get into the temple, the member cannot learn the secret handshake, secret password, secret "new name" and special “sealings.” Without these, the member will be unable to pass Joseph Smith and the angels who guard the entrance to the Celestial Kingdom.

Mormons are commanded that tithing must come first before anything else. Utah has the highest rate of bankruptcies in the United States. Mormons often are told "I cannot pay my bills until I've paid my tithing." Mormons will even pay their tithing rather than give the money to a relative who is on the verge of eviction. Mormon published magazines (Ensign, New Era) constantly stress that tithing must always be paid.

Recently, Mormon Senator Orrin Hatch passed legislation that allowed members to pay a full tithe even while they were in bankruptcy court.

Mormons are told: "if a destitute family is faced with the decision of paying their tithing or eating, they should pay their tithing." (Lynn Robbins, General Conference, April 2005).

Mormons who have not paid tithing will be denied a temple recommend and will be considered "unworthy." However; Mormons who pay "back-tithing" (some as much as $5000 or more) are instantly found to be worthy and can receive their temple recommends back once the money has been paid. The Mormon Church uses this as an extortion method when it comes to temple marriages. Parents or family members who have not paid tithing are required to pay back tithing-- sometimes in the thousands of dollars-- which must be paid before a temple recommend can be issued in order to see their own children married.

Mormons are further threatened that if they do not pay a full tithe, they will be burned with fire when Jesus Christ comes again. Mormons see Tithing as "fire insurance".

Mormons who claim that tithing is purely "a personal choice" are deceiving themselves and outright lying.