Mitt Romney releases tax return for 2011, showing he paid 14.1 percent tax rate

In 2010, Romney earned $21.7 million and paid $3 million in taxes, for an effective rate of 13.9 percent.

Romney’s 2011 returns are substantially different from the estimate his campaign provided in January. The estimate reported that he earned $20.9 million in 2011 and would pay $3.2 million in taxes, for an effective rate of 15.4 percent. Campaign spokeswoman Michele Davis said the difference was because the couple’s income varies “significantly from year to year, depending primarily on what investments are sold and how much they have appreciated or depreciated.” As a result of the high estimate, Romney overpaid his 2011 taxes and will apply the overpayment to his 2012 taxes, the campaign said.

Documents

Romney's tax returns

View Mitt Romney's 2011 tax return, his 2010 tax return and a summary document of his tax rates from 1990-2009.

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Davis added that the couple filed for an extension, as they had in prior years, because not all of their investment information was available by the April 15 deadline. She said, however, that all taxes owed for 2011 were paid by April 15 and that the couple filed their returns on Friday.

Romney also released a summary of his effective tax rates between 1990 and 2009, reporting that his average annual rate was 20.2 percent and that he never paid less than 13.66 percent. But the summary does not detail the size of Romney’s income and the amount of taxes during those years. The letter, produced by preparer PricewaterhouseCoopers, provides no information about how his investments fared during 2008 and 2009, a time of great upheaval in global markets and steep losses for most investors.

Obama and other Democrats have used Romney’s reluctance to release more financial information as evidence that the candidate has been excessively secretive about the fortune he amassed as founder and chief executive of Bain Capital, a private equity firm.

Stephanie Cutter, Obama’s deputy campaign manager, said Friday’s disclosure of the tax returns “continues to mask Romney’s true wealth and income from Bain Capital, leaving the American people in the dark about critical details about his finances.”

In television advertisements and stump speeches, Obama, Vice President Biden and other Democrats have suggested that Romney is hiding something about his personal finances. They noted that Romney’s father, George, released 12 years’ worth of tax returns when he ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968.

In August, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said that he was told by an investor at Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney co-founded and ran, that Romney had paid no taxes for at least 10 years because of his success at taking advantage of tax breaks.

Romney dismissed Reid’s charge as “totally false.”

The pressure to release more tax filings has long rankled Romney. In August, he told reporters, “The fascination with taxes I’ve paid I find to be very small-minded compared to the broad issues that we face.”

There is no legal requirement for presidential candidates to release any income tax returns, although the Federal Election Commission requires them to file personal financial disclosures.