Video: VIDEO | Speaking to reporters in South Carolina, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he paid at least 13 percent in taxes for each of last 10 years.
“Mitt is honest,” she said. “His integrity is just golden.”
In January, under pressure from his Republican primary rivals, Romney released his 2010 tax return, which showed he paid 13.9 percent on $21.7 million in 2010 income. That is the figure he was referring to Thursday, his campaign said, when he mentioned a 13.6 percent tax rate. He has pledged to release his 2011 filings as soon as they are completed later this summer or fall.
Reality check: How Romney’s tax rate compares to other Americans.
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A Romney spokesman confirmed that in saying he paid a rate of at least 13 percent in each of the past 10 years Romney was referring only to his federal income taxes and not personal property or sales taxes.
The question to Romney at Thursday’s news conference was a follow-up to a response the candidate gave ABC News’ David Muir in an interview last month. Muir asked whether Romney had ever paid less than the 13.9 percent he paid last year.
“I haven’t calculated that,” Romney told Muir. “I’m happy to go back and look, but my view is I’ve paid all the taxes required by law.”
In recent weeks, Romney’s campaign has been beating back accusations from Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), who has claimed that he was told by an investor at Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney founded and ran, that the Republican candidate had paid nothing in taxes for at least 10 years because of his success at taking advantage of tax breaks.
Romney on Thursday dismissed Reid’s charge as “totally false.” “I’m sure waiting for Harry to put up who it was that told him what he says they told him,” Romney said. “I don’t believe it for a minute, by the way.”
A spokesman for Reid said Romney could prove his statements true by making his records public. “We’ll believe it when we see it,” said the spokesman, Adam Jentleson. “Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans will continue to wonder what he’s hiding.”
Democrats have tried to present Romney’s unwillingness to release more filings as an illustration of their argument that his tax policies would favor the wealthy, like himself.
Romney pays a lower effective tax rate than many middle-class families. His overall rate is so low in part because most of his income comes from investments, and investment income is taxed at a lower rate than salaries and wages.
His investment income is taxed at 15 percent. Being in the highest tax bracket, Romney would pay a marginal rate of 35 percent if all his income was regular wages.
At his news conference, Romney suggested that his charitable contributions should also be taken into account. “Every year, I’ve paid at least 13 percent, and if you add, in addition, the amount that goes to charity, why the number gets well above 20 percent,” Romney said.
Helderman reported from Washington. David Nakamura contributed to this report.
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