Romney channels Kerry Packer on taxes

In the 1991 Print Media Inquiry, media mogul the late Kerry Packer was asked about an allegation made by 4 Corners that he minimized his taxes. His reply was:

There’s nothing wrong with minimizing taxes, I don’t know anybody who doesn’t minimize their tax.

At the suggestion that he was doing so in a manner contrary to the law, he said:

Well, I just got through telling you what I thought about that, and what you are saying is just what the 4 Corners program said about it. I am not evading tax in any way, shape, or form. Now of course I am minimizing my tax, and if anybody in this country doesn’t minimize their tax they want their heads read, because, as a government I can tell you that you are not spending it that well that we should be donating extra.

Now Mitt Romney has stated that overpaying taxes disqualifies a president:

Cartoon: Glen McCoy

Mitt Romney says that if he paid more taxes than were required, he wouldn't be qualified to be president.

The U.S. presidential candidate tells ABC News that American voters expect candidates to pay "only what the tax code requires." He says he hasn't calculated what percentage of his income was paid in taxes but says that he's been audited.

Romney's vast personal wealth has been an issue in the campaign. Democrats have criticized him for paying only 13.9 percent of his income in taxes during the one year his taxes have been made public.

Romney will have to grow a much bigger pair to have any chance of emulating Kerry, but at least he has made a promising start.