Video: Why won?t Romney release his tax records?

>> what has become a major issue for mitt romney . just three days before the south carolina primary , his revelation that he pays a tax rate of just 15% and his intention to wait till april to release his tax returns continues to whoever over his head. romney , by the way, did not address the issue at his only campaign appearance so far today. in spartanburg, south carolina . while he is under fire from his gop challengers, one of his top supporters, new jersey governor chris christie had have advice just this morning concerning romney 's tax returns .

>> what i would say to governor romney is, if you have tax returns to put out, you know, should put them out sooner rather than later because it's always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you're the front-runner.

>> joining me now garrett haik is following romney around. thanks for your time.

>> my pleasure. you heard chris christie say if you have the returns. we know he has the returns. what is romney saying, if anything today? he pointed out he had this one rally. he didn't mention it there.

>> no, tamron , this is not a subject they want to spend timing about. they're not talking about president obama and not talking about job creation. ultimately he commented on this yesterday after sort of dodging the question for a long time about when he would release these returns. if you remember back in december, he told chuck todd there were no plans to do it. then it was maybe we'll do it, then it was we'll consider doing it before utley coming out yesterday and giving that april date, which gives had imtime to maybe put more primaries behind him and release these things after tax season has concluded.

>> garrett , i'm curious. is team romney caught off guard by this fact that people are pushing him and even again, i have to point out, it's not just rivals. is his own supporter, chris christie whose name has been tossed around as a possible pick for vice president if romney gets the nomination is saying, you've got the records. put them out there sooner rather than later. are they caught flat footed here?

>> well, tamron , we're slamming the brakes on the bus here for a second. no, it's a little bit of mixed signals here. it's not surprise that mitt romney 's rich and no surprise people want to see his tax returns at some point sooner rather than later. he's been getting asked about them for a long time. they will do seem to have fumbled the rollout of this with not necessarily being prepared to release them earlier rather than later and let them continue to be part of the conversation supposed to getting it out of the way.

>> nationally syndicated radio talk show host michael smerconish . you heard the report from garrett . he's following around the romney campaign and discussing how they seem to be giving off mixed signals here. what do you make of this?

>> nothing good happens for mitt romney politically speaking when he rees his tax returns . i mean, there's not like a revelation we're going to look at the returns and say this is terrific news for him. there will be questions answered about his contributions, about the extent to which he's gone to shield income. i think there are potential negatives. that's obviously why they want to push this off till april because by april at this current pace if not sooner, he will have secured the nomination. i think the voters are being let down. i recognize it's not a legal requirement but in the same way, tamron , that all this money is being spent on super pacs who by and large don't have to disclose till january 31 , i feel that the voters are being short shifted by casting ballots without knowing who's spending money on all the super pacs and what are the financial dynamics of the candidates. it's the sort of thing they should know before they go to vote, not after.

>> gingrich said today he pays a tax rate of 31. the president's tax returns shows he pays a tax rate of 26, as well. sarah palin now, michael , rearing her head in all of this, not endorsing anyone like her husband todd palin . but she did indicate if she were in fact to vote in south carolina 's primary, she would support newt gingrich . let me play her latest comments.

>> if i had to vote in south carolina in order to keep this thing going, i'd vote for newt. and i would want this to continue more debates, more vetting of candidates.

>> more vetting of candidates. i read that as, it has to be about more vetting of mitt romney here because he is the front-runner. what more vetting does she want? especially when she want to be vetted herself. the reason she's not in this race. nevertheless, michael , what do we make of this piling on or can we even call it that? is it the right thing to do pile on romney if he doesn't want to turn this over?

>> i think it's more evidence of the dissatisfaction that exists on the far right within the gop. they haven't been able to coalesce around one particular candidate. i think that had they done so or if they were to do so now, romney would really be given a run for his money. but i can't see santorum getting out, rick perry who knows newt gingrich looks like he's in for the long hall. your question what tax rate romney pays, i don't blame him if he's paying a 15% rate. i think that's too low. i blame the system for that. my expectation is that romney 's a straight arrow who pays whatever his proper share is, but he's probably paying only on capital gains at a 15% rate while the rest of us are paying a much higher rate than that.

>> thank you very much, michael .

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