I don't believe Romney is a criminal, or even particularly dishonest. And I'm sure his tax returns have been gone over by the IRS very carefully, looking for the slightest irregularity.

But I do believe the Mittster has taken every single opportunity he has, every loophole and every legal trick possible, to pay as little as he possibly can. I do not put him down for that, I do the exact same thing myself.

What Willard is afraid will come out, in graphic detail, is what a person with unlimited legal and accounting resources and enormous political influence can do to legitimately avoid paying taxes, and how the tax law has been rigged to favor people like him at the expense of people like us. This is not the sort of information that those who like to pass themselves off as "carrying the weight of the rest of society on their backs" want to be made public knowledge, particularly when they are running for public office on a platform of maintaining that privilege, and even expanding it.

It will also show exactly where and how he earned his money, (again, no doubt perfectly legit and legal). What Mr Romney is afraid of is not that he will be caught doing something wrong, but what people of his class, power and wealth are free to do whenever they please.