Taxing conditions in the race for governor

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What’s the opposite of a flip-flop? A flop-flip?

A day after Meg Whitman said she might release only summaries of her tax returns, the Republican candidate for governor on Wednesday returned to her original position, promising to release the real thing – 25 years’ worth – when Democrat Jerry Brown puts out his own returns back to the time when he left the governorship in 1983.

After speaking to a law enforcement group in Sacramento, Whitman said she ‘didn’t change’ her stance. ‘I will release my tax returns when Jerry Brown releases all of his,’ she said. ‘I stand by [that] I will release my tax returns for 25 years – the actual returns.’

On Tuesday, in response to a reporter’s question about whether she would release ‘complete’ returns or a ‘summary,’ Whitman said, ‘It might be a summary statement of the returns. We’ll work out the details.’ Her campaign spokesman later reaffirmed that the format was not yet decided, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Of course, with all the preconditions, it’s unclear when or if reporters will have the opportunity to sift through the thousands of pages (at least) in as many as 75 tax returns for the three major candidates for governor. Republican candidate Steve Poizner has said he will release his returns, but hasn’t given a timeline. On the timing issue, Whitman says she and Brown ‘can do it simultaneously.’

Brown’s campaign is ‘actively preparing’ his tax returns for release, spokesman Sterling Clifford said. But because Brown doesn’t yet know if he still has his returns going back to the time when he was governor, he may not have enough to suit Whitman’s conditions for releasing hers. And if he doesn’t, and she won’t, will Brown still release his?

‘I don’t know,’ Clifford said.

You can watch video below of Whitman talking about releasing her tax returns at this month’s state Republican Party convention.

-- Michael Rothfeld in Sacramento