In this task, you are given a text of many news articles seperated by special token "|||||". Your task is to summarize them.

WASHINGTON -- In an interview that aired Wednesday night on NBC News, Mitt Romney definitively answered one of the lingering questions surrounding his presidential ambitions, saying he had no plans to release his tax returns should he win the Republican presidential nomination. 
  
 "Never say never, but I don't intend to do so," Romney said. 
  
 The statement marks an interesting point in the continuous frictions between political expedience and demands for transparency, as well as the benefits and downsides of both. Releasing his tax returns would have allowed voters to better judge Romney's financial history, as well as his potential conflicts of interest. It stands to reason that he would have gotten some credit for the disclosure, or at least less criticism for his pattern of non-disclosure. 
  
 But the tax returns would have also brought political headaches by displaying specific information about the former governor's immense wealth. They also would have likely disclosed the fact that he pays a lower tax rate than middle class voters (it is widely believed that Romney earns a good chunk of his money through capital gains). 
  
 "I think the implications are that he is afraid of what this says about who he is and who he will represent if he is in the White House," said David Donnelly, the national campaigns director of the Public Campaign Action Fund, a group that tries to limit the influence of money in politics. 
  
 Romney's advisers clearly calculated that releasing the tax returns wasn't worth the pain. And judging by the limited outrage in the press over the candidate's announcement, they are right. But it's also worth noting that Romney is starting to cement a legacy as one of the most secretive presidential candidates in the modern era. Several good government advocates expressed serious concern with what has become a pattern of non-disclosure. 
  
 Already, Romney has declined to name the individuals who have bundled money on his behalf. He is also known to have destroyed records from his time as governor -- an act that last week was revealed to have been much more extensive than buying and wiping government hard drives. Reuters reported that in the final weeks of his term as governor, Romney "sought and received permission to destroy 150 boxes of paper records of his tenure." 
  
 And now, should he win the Republican nomination, he will be alone among recent party presidential nominees who have declined to release tax returns. 
  
 "Romney ought to be releasing his tax returns and the names of his bundlers," said Fred Wertheimer, president and founder of Democracy 21. "There is no understandable reason why he isn't doing that except for the fact that he wants to keep secret from the public information that other candidates in his situation have made public and that, for some reason, he doesn't want voters to know." 
  
 A spokesman for the Romney campaign said that the candidate had addressed the tax return issue during a media availability on Thursday morning. 
  
 "I can tell you we follow the tax laws. And if there’s an opportunity to save taxes we, like anybody else in this country, will follow that opportunity. But we don’t have any current plans to release tax returns -- but never say never. We’ll see what the future holds. We’ve released, of course, all the information required by law—which is a pretty extensive release. But down the road, we’ll see what happens if I’m the nominee," Romney said Thursday. "I don’t have any immediate plans to reduce—or excuse me—release tax returns but that may change in the future." 
  
 Wertheimer predicted that should Romney end up the nominee, he would feel intense pressure over time to reverse course. Previously, Rick Perry's presidential campaign had tried to apply such pressure. But on Thursday morning, following Romney's most recent comments, Perry's campaign was silent. President Barack Obama's reelection campaign, however, was not. 
  
 “By declaring that, if nominated, he would not release his income tax returns, Mitt Romney is defying a practice to which every party nominee, Republican and Democrat, has adhered for decades," said Ben LaBolt, the Obama campaign's press secretary. "Even his father, George Romney, disclosed his tax returns when he ran for President in 1968. Why does Governor Romney feel like he can play by a different set of rules? What is it that he doesn’t want the American people to see?" ||||| Mitt Romney, who is one of the wealthiest men ever to seek the presidency, said on Wednesday that he had no intention of releasing his tax returns if he became the Republican presidential nominee, breaking with a long tradition in both parties. 
  
 Mr. Romney made the statement in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday, but the network did not show that part of the interview. Mr. Romney, a multimillionaire who made his fortune running a private equity firm, was asked whether he planned to release his tax return. 
  
 “I doubt it,” Mr. Romney said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by NBC News. “I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.” 
  
 “But you won’t do the tax returns?” asked Chuck Todd, host of “The Daily Rundown.” 
  
 “I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” Mr. Romney responded. 
  
 A spokesman for President Obama‘s re-election campaign blasted Mr. Romney and questioned whether he had something to hide in his finances. 
  
 “Why does Governor Romney feel like he can play by a different set of rules?” said Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for the Obama campaign. “What is it that he doesn’t want the American people to see? Governor Romney, who has favored secrecy over openness time after time, should live up to the same standard of disclosure his father and others set.” 
  
 The Democratic National Committee took only hours on Thursday to unveil a new Web site, www.whatmittpays.com. The site allows visitors to select their income level and compare how much less they would have paid if they were taxed at what the group assumes would be Mr. Romney’s lower rate. 
  
 Presidential candidates from both parties — including John McCain, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Al Gore and even George Romney, Mr. Romney’s father, who ran in 1968 — have routinely released their tax returns. 
  
 Mr. Romney’s personal wealth — said to be between $190 million and $250 million — helped to fuel his first campaign for the presidency in 2008, when he contributed more than $40 million of his own money. 
  
 A story in The New York Times this week reported that Mr. Romney continues to increase his wealth through a retirement agreement with Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, which still pays him a share of profits long after his departure. 
  
 The arrangement with Bain also most likely means that much of Mr. Romney’s income is taxed at a much lower rate than ordinary income under a provision aimed at hedge fund and private equity managers. Releasing his tax returns would allow Mr. Romney’s rivals to calculate the effective tax rate he is paying. 
  
 That could be politically difficult for Mr. Romney, who often talks about the need to help middle-class Americans get through the current economic difficulties. 
  
 Throughout his political career, Mr. Romney has refused to release his personal tax returns. During his 1994 Senate campaign in Massachusetts, Mr. Romney challenged the incumbent, Edward M. Kennedy, a Democrat, to release his tax returns — though Mr. Romney did not release his own. 
  
 Mr. Todd asked Mr. Romney about that during the interview on Wednesday. 
  
 “I never say never,” Mr. Romney said, but added, “I don’t intend to do so.” |||||
Mitt Romney says that even if he becomes the Republican nominee, he has no intention of releasing his tax returns, reports the New York Times. Romney—one of the richest men ever to run for president—would be alone among nominees of recent decades if he fails to release his returns. If released, the returns would put the spotlight on Romney's immense wealth, and would probably reveal that he only pays 15% capital gains tax on the millions of dollars he makes every year from Bain Capital, the private equity firm he helped found, the Huffington Post notes. The campaigns of Romney's Republican rivals were silent about his most recent comments on the issue, but President Obama's campaign pounced. "Mitt Romney is defying a practice to which every party nominee, Republican and Democrat, has adhered for decades," the campaign's press secretary said. "Even his father, George Romney, disclosed his tax returns when he ran for president in 1968. Why does Governor Romney feel like he can play by a different set of rules? What is it that he doesn’t want the American people to see?"