WHY won't the Clintons release their tax returns NOW?

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

from Bloomberg

Clinton's Burkle Ties Include Funds in Cayman Islands (Update1)

By Timothy J. Burger and Ryan J. Donmoyer

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- .............Securities and Exchange Commission documents and financial- disclosure forms filed by Hillary Clinton show that Bill Clinton, 61, has a financial stake in three investment entities registered in the Cayman Islands by Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. LLC.

In 2004, Hillary Clinton, a New York senator, said she wanted to close the ``loopholes'' for ``people who create a mailbox, or a drop, or send one person to sit on the beach in some island paradise and claim that it is their offshore headquarters.''

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Bloomberg News last month submitted a list of questions to the Clinton campaign regarding the former president's involvement in the three Caymans-based funds. The campaign didn't respond to the queries until Dec. 13, after the New York Times reported that Clinton plans to dissolve his five-year partnership with Burkle, a longtime friend and important fund-raiser for both Clintons.

`An Appropriate Transition'

Jay Carson, a Clinton spokesman, said that while the former president hasn't ``severed ties'' with Yucaipa, he ``is taking steps to ensure'' that ``there will be an appropriate transition for those relationships'' if his wife receives the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

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The amounts disclosed by Hillary Clinton are minimal, though a person familiar with the matter confirmed a report last year in The New York Times that Bill Clinton stands to make tens of millions of dollars with little risk if the Yucaipa funds he is involved in profit beyond a certain level.............

Paul Roth, an attorney with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP in New York, said companies that organize outside the U.S. often do so because ``it's more attractive'' to foreign investors, who can ``make sure they're not subject to U.S. taxation.'' Foreign registration may also make it easier for U.S. tax-exempt entities such as pension funds to invest ``in certain strategies,'' he said.

These tax benefits -- which are legal and common practice for many investment firms, particularly hedge funds -- have drawn attention from lawmakers and candidates.

In a Dec. 13 debate, Hillary Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, said that as president he would crack down on corporate loopholes and tax savings, particularly those involving offshore transactions.

``There's a building in the Cayman Islands that houses, supposedly, 12,000 U.S.-based corporations,'' Obama said. ``That's either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam in the world. And I think we know which one it is.''

(Clinton's spokesman) ...said Bill Clinton's payments from Yucaipa aren't deferred and the former president pays tax on that income in the year in which it is earned.

Steven Howard, a partner at Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP in New York who advises investment firms, said private-equity firms such as Yucaipa often compensate advisers with a stake in the company rather than salary. ``In Clinton's case, he may be allocated equity instead of significant cash for services rendered,'' Howard said.

Carson, Clinton's spokeman, didn't respond to questions about whether Bill Clinton receives this form of compensation. Howard said equity allocations are taxed at the 15 percent capital-gains rate instead of as ordinary income, which is taxed at rates as high as 35 percent. He said the same benefit applies to so-called carried interest, a profit-sharing arrangement used by fund managers that Hillary Clinton and other Democrats have criticized and vow to curb.

............Hillary Clinton's Senate financial-disclosure records only say that Bill Clinton's Yucaipa assets were valued at less than $2,002 in 2006, while he received between $1,202 and $3,500 in interest that year. In the 18 months between January 2006 and June 2007, the value of the assets grew to between $1,001 and $15,000, and Bill Clinton received between $6,002 and $17,500 in interest, according to financial records filed in connection with the senator's presidential candidacy.

Bill Clinton has also received ``over $1,000'' a year in ``guaranteed payments to partner'' from Yucaipa Global Holdings and a predecessor fund. The government forms don't require lawmakers to specify an exact amount for spouses.

Campaign Questions

Bloomberg's questions to the campaign involved the nature and amounts of his compensation from Yucaipa, why the holdings were listed as Los Angeles-based rather than Cayman Islands entities, and when Hillary Clinton became aware that the funds were offshore. Carson didn't address those questions. Yucaipa spokesman Frank Quintero referred all questions about the former president's role to the Clintons' spokespeople.

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To contact the reporters on this story: Timothy J. Burger in Washington at Tburger2@bloomberg.net; Ryan J. Donmoyer in Washington at rdonmoyer@bloomberg.net.

Classism, far more than racism or religionj, is the enemy of progressivism. SJ doe snot understand why so few liberals do not resent this sort of thing amongst our own "leaders?"