Mitt Romney (center) celebrates being rich.Bain Capital
Mitt Romney released his his 2010 tax return on Monday night, and it turns out he actually paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent that year, according to the Washington Post:
They sent somewhat less to Washington over that period, paying an estimated $6.2 million in federal income taxes. According to his 2010 tax return, Romney paid about $3 million to the IRS, for an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent.
For 2011, Romney estimates that he will pay about $3.2 million, for an effective rate of 15.4 percent. That’s in line with his earlier estimates, but sharply lower than the rates paid by President Obama and Romney’s closest Republican rival, Newt Gingrich.
Previously Romney had estimated his tax rate as being “around” 15 percent. To put this in perspective, Romney, who according to the Post makes about twenty million dollars a year mostly through capital gains and investments, pays a lower effective tax rate than American households making an average pretax income of $64,500 a year. Those middle-income folks pay an effective tax rate of 14.2 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Romney’s tax plan would cut his tax rate even further.
If that doesn’t quite seem fair to you, that’s probably what the Obama administration hopes you’re thinking. We still don’t know what tax rates Romney paid before 2010, but he did release his estimated taxes for 2011, for which he expects to pay an effective rate of 15.4 percent.
