The Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney finally decided to release his tax documents of last year. According to the reports released Friday afternoon, the former governor of Massachusetts, made $13.7 million in 2011 and paid $1.9 million. In 2010, Romney paid $3 million in tax pays according to the documents that were released to public.
The New York Times reports that Romney paid an effective federal tax rate of 14.1 percent. The New York Times' Michael Shear says that if Romney's claims that he paid an average of 13 percent in taxes for the past ten years, then for 2011 that would mean that Romney voluntarily accepted a smaller tax deduction. The Romney campaign said that the aspiring president $2.25 million in deduction, all of which was in relation to charitable donations.
Romeny's trust, R. Bradford Malt said, "The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor's statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years," as reported in the New York Times.
Romney has received criticism from the Obama administration, particularly for not releasing tax-documents to the public during his time at a private equity firm called Bain Capital.
Recently, the Romney campaign faced a media controversy with regard to his infamous "47 percent" comment in a private fundraiser last week. According to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist Poll surveys, President Obama has a lead over his republican counterpart.
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