Romney releases tax return details
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is releasing details of his 2011 tax return.
Ahead of the release, aides said that he earned almost $13.7m last year and paid more than $1.9m in taxes – an effective tax rate of 14.1%.
The release comes after a difficult week for Mr Romney in which a leaked, secretly recorded video showed him saying nearly half of the country does not pay income taxes.
Mr Romney paid about $3m in federal income taxes in 2010 – or 13.9%.
Critics, including President Barack Obama, have urged Mr Romney to follow his father’s model. When George Romney ran for president, he released 12 years of tax returns.
Mitt Romney is refusing.
Mr Romney has said he is following the example of Republican Senator John McCain, who released two years of returns in his race against Mr Obama in 2008.
Democrats have tried to make an issue of what Mr Romney pays in taxes and what he is willing to divulge about his taxes and investments.
His campaign had promised to release his complete 2011 returns before the election on November 6.
The vast majority of Mr Romney’s income came from investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than wages. His wealth has been estimated as high as $250m.
Mr Obama’s tax return shows he earned nearly $790,000 last year and paid an effective tax rate of almost 21%.
