Romney Using Overseas Tax Shelters?

Josh Marshall flags an item about Romney's tax returns I find to be entirely possible.

Via Reuters:

His vast fortune is invested in dozens of funds linked to Bain Capital LLC, the powerhouse private equity firm he co-founded and led for 15 years. Several Bain funds have offshore connections and take advantage of tax breaks used only by the U.S. financial elite.

His tax returns could shed light on how Romney and Bain use offshore strategies to avoid taxes, said Daniel Berman, a former U.S. Treasury deputy international tax counsel and now director of tax at Boston University's graduate tax program.

Bain funds in which Romney is invested are scattered from Delaware to the Cayman Islands and Bermuda, Ireland and Hong Kong, according to a Reuters analysis of securities filings.

This possibility, I would say, makes a lot sense as to why he's been so reluctant at releasing his returns.

I don't think his "tax rate" has anything to do with it. Republicans support the 15% capital gains rate. Actually, they think capital gains taxes are illegal. So the lower the tax rate Romney pays the more Republicans will support it. But if he's tax dodging overseas. Well, that's a different story altogether.