Spitzer No Longer Thinks Revealing Tax Returns is 'The Right Thing to Do'

Eliot Spitzer's opponent for New York City comptroller is demanding he release his tax returns — which is a bit of a reversal, since asking candidates for public office to release their tax returns used to be Spitzer's thing.

Eliot Spitzer released some information about his taxes on Tuesday, but not his returns. He did so after his opponent in the Democratic primary for New York City's comptroller race, Scott Stringer, released his tax returns from the past five years, urging Spitzer to do the same. Now Spitzer's got some explaining to do — asking candidates for public office to release their tax returns used to be his thing.

For years, Spitzer thought it was pretty important for politicians to release their tax returns. Last September, Spitzer spent most one episode of his Current TV show Viewpoint questioning why Mitt Romney wouldn't release his tax returns in the presidential election. When Spitzer was running for Governor of New York in 2006, he said:

"I reveal my tax returns every year. I think it's the right thing to do. I've done it since I was running, which goes back 12 years now."

Now, Lisa Linden, a spokeswoman for Spitzer is says he can't release his returns this year, because "they contain income information about partnerships and other entities that is private."

Spitzer did release some figures — he and his wife made $4.2 million last year and paid about $2.1 million in federal, state and city taxes. In 2011, they raked in $3.7 million and paid about $1.5 million in taxes. Stringer's returns show that he and his wife made $217,796 last year.

Stringer's spokeswoman, Audrey Gelman, said, "it’s increasingly clear that Eliot Spitzer believes there are two standards in public life — one for him, and one for everyone else." Some might say this was proven back in 2008.