Thaindian News

Washington, Jan 25 (IANS/EFE) Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney Tuesday made public his two most recent tax returns, which reveal that the millionaire businessman is subject to a much lower tax rate than the average working American.

The returns, which were delivered to certain media outlets but still have not been published on his web page, show Romney had income of some $42 million in 2010 and 2011 and paid taxes at an effective rate of 14.6 percent, The Washington Post said.

The question of taxes has become a bone of contention in the Republican election debate, after another of the candidates, former House speaker Newt Gingrich challenged front-runner Romney to provide details about the origin of the fortune he made as a financier.

The former Massachusetts governor urged Gingrich to make public his consulting contracts with the government-backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac, an institution often criticized by Republicans.

For months, the campaign team of Romney, erstwhile boss of private equity firm Bain Capital, refused to release his tax returns.

Romney’s fortune is estimated at around $250 million.

More than half of Romney’s income in 2010 and 2011 came from the interest and dividends on his investments, which the US tax code states are taxable at a rate of up to 15 percent.

US taxpayers whose income is derived from wages and salary pay at rates ranging from 23 percent to 35 percent.

“You’ll see my income, how much taxes I’ve paid, how much I’ve paid to charity,” Romney said Monday night in a debate in Florida with Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul.

Romney and his wife made $7 million in charitable donations over the past two years, including at least $4.1 million to the Mormon Church.

The income received by Romney places him in the top group of taxpayers in the US.

In 2008, according to Internal Revenue Service figures, the average individual income in the US was $33,048, an amount of money that Romney earned in less than a single day.

And in that year, to be among the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers one needed to have a gross annual income of $380,354, which Romney earned in a week.

According to IRS figures, in 2008 fewer than 15 percent of taxpayers with annual incomes exceeding $200,000 paid taxes at a rate under 15 percent.

–IANS/EFE
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