Mitt Romney’s tax return reveals he paid extra, Harry Reid still says ‘he’s hiding something’
For months now the Democrats and critics have been demanding GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney release his tax returns and on Friday his 2011 return went public, revealing he didn’t pay less, but paid more.
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Mitt Romney paid $1.95 million in taxes on his 2011 investment income of $13.7 million, his campaign revealed, plus they donate over $4 million to charity — 30% of their income.
Romney, who made millions by running Bain Capital, a private equity firm, paid an effective federal tax rate of 14.1 percent in taxes, primarily because most of his income was in the form of capital gains that are taxed at a lower rate than ordinary income. Mr. Romney has said that he has paid at least 13 percent in federal income taxes in each of the last 10 years.
In order for that claim to be true in 2011, Romney had to voluntarily take a smaller deduction than he was entitled to for his charitable deductions, his advisers said Friday.
Mr. Romney and his wife, Ann, donated about $4 million to charity in 2011, but claimed only $2.25 million as a deduction. The campaign said that Mr. Romney’s tax liability would have been far lower in 2011 had the Romneys claimed the full deduction for their charitable contributions.
“The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the governor’s statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years,” said R. Bradford Malt, Mr. Romney’s trustee.
Romney gave more than twice as much of his adjusted gross income to charity than President Obama and Joe Biden donated only 1.5 per cent of his salary in 2011.
Harry Reid made an intense claim that the former Governor had not paid taxes but a subsequent article by the NY Times, proving otherwise, failed to quell the rumor.
Citing an anonymous source, Reid said Romney had not released his tax returns because “he didn’t pay taxes for 10 years” — a claim that the Nevada Democrat repeated on the floor of the U.S. Senate.
An apology doesn’t seem likely.
From a Las Vegas Sun reporter:
Reid on Romney deciding to release 2011 returns: “He’s hiding something. He’s hiding something! It is so evident he’s hiding something!” – Anjeanette Damon @anjeanettedamon twitter account
