Republican Tea Party (GOTP) presidential wannabe Willard Mitt Romney’s come up with yet another excuse for not releasing his tax records to do so he claims would violate his religious privacy.

“Our church doesn’t publish how much people have given,” Romney recently told Parade magazine. “This is done entirely privately. One of the downsides of releasing one’s financial information is that this is now all public, but we had never intended our contributions to be known. It’s a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church.”

Yeah, well that’s all very nice, except it’s a load of garbage. For one thing, everyone already knows how much he’s donated to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, well at least for one year, because he’s already released one of his returns – well at least part of one, so his whole, “It’s a very personal thing between ourselves and our commitment to our God and to our church,” doesn’t exactly fit this running for president scenario.

Of course if Romney’s claim had any religious validity to it, then why did his father release twelve years worth of tax records when he ran for the Republican nomination in 1968, which by-the-way detailed how much he’d given to the Church during those years?

Then there’s also the point another politically prominent member of the Church, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s called on Romney to release his tax records, as has Jon Huntsman Sr., who reportedly publicly told Willard he needs to release his returns so he can be “square with the American people.”

It’s indeed time for Romney to “be square with the American people”, and to man up and release his returns, that is if he wants the whole mess to go away and if he has any serious – or at least rational – thoughts of becoming president. The American people have grown weary of secrets, especially from conservative elitists who think we can’t handle the truth and to trust them because they know what’s best. Paging “Brother” Romney, the transparency bus is outside honking its horn, get on, or get out of the way for serious candidates who aren’t afraid of letting the voters see their tax records.