Political wonks are distraught today. Mitt Romney will not seek the presidency in 2016. He told a small group of advisers of his decision in a conference call this morning.
Tax geeks also are upset. No Romney run also means we won't get any further tax return revelations.
President Obama meets with Mitt Romney in the Oval Office following their White House post-election lunch on Nov. 29, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
I don't know about y'all, but I was really looking forward to seeing if the 2012 Republican presidential nominee amended his tax returns.
Reclaiming tax breaks via 1040X: You might recall that Romney's 2011 tax return showed that his effective tax rate that year was 14.1 percent. To reach that tax rate level, however, Romney and his wife Ann opted not claim some charitable tax deductions for which they qualified.
If they had taken all their eligible deductions, some tax calculators speculated that the Romneys would have paid a tax rate closer to 9 percent.
Further speculation was that if Romney didn't take the White House from President Obama, the Romneys would file an amended 2011 return and claim those forgone deductions.
Now we'll never know.
Bush returns on the horizon? But we do have the possibility of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's tax returns.
Earlier this month when W's brother announced the creation of his "Right to Rise" political action committee, seen as a precursor to a possible GOP presidential nominee bid, there was word that Jeb would release 10 years of his personal tax returns.
The tax transparency, according to a report in Politico, would eliminate comparisons to Romney's tax release reticence. Mitt waited until September 2012 to release just two years of tax returns.
In the months leading to the Romney returns, Democrats had a field day floating theories as to why the Republican candidate didn't want American voters to see at least some of his tax filings.
While Jeb, or whoever eventually represents the Republican effort in 2016 to take the White House, might release one, two or a decade's worth of tax returns, don't hold your breath for any disclosure soon.
Following the Politico report, other Bush confidants told the Washington Post that reports of imminent release of any tax records is inaccurate and grossly premature.
At least those of us fixated on taxes and politics have something to look forward to.
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