US candidate Romney releases tax information
Disclosing his multi-million-dollar income:
US: Under mounting pressure from rivals, US Republican White House
candidate Mitt Romney released tax returns disclosing his
multi-million-dollar income Tuesday, according to the Washington Post.
Romney -- a multi-millionaire former venture capitalist -- reported
income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year, virtually
all of it from investments, the Post reported shortly after midnight
(0500 GMT) Tuesday.
The Romney family gave away $7 million in charitable contributions
since 2010 -- mostly to the Mormon Church -- and paid just $6.2 million
in federal income taxes during the same period, the Post reported.
Romney paid $3 million in 2010 for an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent
and estimates he will pay $3.2 million for his income last year, an
effective rate of 15.4 percent -- far less than former House speaker
Newt Gingrich, his chief Republican rival, or Democratic President
Barack Obama. Rival candidates have been hammering Romney -- a former
Massachusetts governor and on-again off-again frontrunner -- to release
his tax returns in line with other candidates running in the 2012
presidential election.
Romney had hinted he would release them following the April filing
deadline, but appeared to have changed course following his crushing
loss to Gingrich in last weekend's South Carolina primary.
Romney's opponents -- both Democrats and Republicans -- have accused
him of preying on companies during his years at the head of equity firm
Bain Capital, reaping huge profits while bankrupting firms and
destroying jobs. AFP
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