Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney earned $13.69 million in 2011, mostly income from his investments, and paid $1.9 million in taxes for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign announced Friday.
Romney released his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday, as well as a summary of his effective tax rates dating back to 1990. The disclosure comes after months of political pressure on Romney to reveal more information about his large personal fortune.
Romney and his wife, Ann, donated $4.02 million to charity in 2011, nearly 30 percent of their income, helping to reduce their tax obligation, the campaign said.
The Romneys only claimed a tax deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions to engineer a higher tax rate than they otherwise would have paid. This move was to “conform” to the candidate’s statement in August that he paid a federal income tax rate of at least 13 percent of his income in each of the last 10 years, Brad Malt, Romney’s trustee, said in a statement released by the campaign.
At a Republican presidential debate in January, on the same night he released his 2010 tax returns, Romney scoffed at the notion that he would pay more taxes than he is legally required.
“You’ll see my income, how much taxes I’ve paid, how much I’ve paid to charity,” Romney said. “I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”
Campaign spokeswoman Michele Davis said in a statement that Romney “has been clear that no American need pay more than he or she owes under the law. At the same time, he was in the unique position of having made a commitment to the public that his tax rate would be above 13 percent. In order to be consistent with that statement, the Romneys limited their deduction of charitable contributions.”
Romney’s 2011 income and tax obligation are significantly less than what his campaign estimated earlier this year. In January, the Romney campaign released an estimate saying that Romney had earned $20.9 million in 2011 and would pay about $3.2 million in taxes, for an effective rate of 15.4 percent.
In 2010, the Romneys earned $21.7 million and paid $3 million in federal income taxes, for an effective rate of 13.9 percent, according to tax filings his campaign released in January.
Virtually all of the Romneys’ income that year was from profits, stock dividends or interest payments from other investments. None came from wages, the primary source of income for most Americans.
Between 1990 and 2009, the Romneys’ average annual effective federal tax rate was 20.2 percent, according to Malt. The lowest effective federal personal tax rate they paid in that period was 13.66 percent, he said.
Over the same 20-year period, the couple gave an average of 13.45 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity.
Fred Goldberg, a former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, said in a statement released by Romney’s campaign that the couple “fully satisfied their responsibilities as taxpayers.”
“These returns reflect the complexity of our tax laws and the types of investment activity that I would anticipate for persons in their circumstances,” Goldberg said in the statement. “There is no indication or suggestion of any tax-motivated or aggressive tax planning activities.”
Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
Romney released his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday, as well as a summary of his effective tax rates dating back to 1990. The disclosure comes after months of political pressure on Romney to reveal more information about his large personal fortune.
Romney and his wife, Ann, donated $4.02 million to charity in 2011, nearly 30 percent of their income, helping to reduce their tax obligation, the campaign said.
The Romneys only claimed a tax deduction for $2.25 million of those charitable contributions to engineer a higher tax rate than they otherwise would have paid. This move was to “conform” to the candidate’s statement in August that he paid a federal income tax rate of at least 13 percent of his income in each of the last 10 years, Brad Malt, Romney’s trustee, said in a statement released by the campaign.
At a Republican presidential debate in January, on the same night he released his 2010 tax returns, Romney scoffed at the notion that he would pay more taxes than he is legally required.
“You’ll see my income, how much taxes I’ve paid, how much I’ve paid to charity,” Romney said. “I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don’t think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes.”
Campaign spokeswoman Michele Davis said in a statement that Romney “has been clear that no American need pay more than he or she owes under the law. At the same time, he was in the unique position of having made a commitment to the public that his tax rate would be above 13 percent. In order to be consistent with that statement, the Romneys limited their deduction of charitable contributions.”
Romney’s 2011 income and tax obligation are significantly less than what his campaign estimated earlier this year. In January, the Romney campaign released an estimate saying that Romney had earned $20.9 million in 2011 and would pay about $3.2 million in taxes, for an effective rate of 15.4 percent.
In 2010, the Romneys earned $21.7 million and paid $3 million in federal income taxes, for an effective rate of 13.9 percent, according to tax filings his campaign released in January.
Virtually all of the Romneys’ income that year was from profits, stock dividends or interest payments from other investments. None came from wages, the primary source of income for most Americans.
Between 1990 and 2009, the Romneys’ average annual effective federal tax rate was 20.2 percent, according to Malt. The lowest effective federal personal tax rate they paid in that period was 13.66 percent, he said.
Over the same 20-year period, the couple gave an average of 13.45 percent of their adjusted gross income to charity.
Fred Goldberg, a former commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, said in a statement released by Romney’s campaign that the couple “fully satisfied their responsibilities as taxpayers.”
“These returns reflect the complexity of our tax laws and the types of investment activity that I would anticipate for persons in their circumstances,” Goldberg said in the statement. “There is no indication or suggestion of any tax-motivated or aggressive tax planning activities.”
Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.