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Mitt Romney paid 14.1% in tax in 2011 | Mitt Romney paid 14.1% in tax in 2011 |
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has released his much-anticipated 2011 tax return, which shows he paid a rate of 14.1%. | Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has released his much-anticipated 2011 tax return, which shows he paid a rate of 14.1%. |
Mr Romney paid $1.9m (£1.1m) in taxes in 2011, on $13.7m of income. | Mr Romney paid $1.9m (£1.1m) in taxes in 2011, on $13.7m of income. |
The private equity tycoon has already released his 2010 tax return, for which he paid about $3m, a 13.9% rate. | |
The top rate of income tax in the US is 35%, but Mr Romney lives mainly on income derived from his investments, for which only 15% tax is payable. | |
Critics, including President Barack Obama, whom Mr Romney will challenge for the White House in November, have called on him to release more tax returns. | |
Mr Romney's 2011 tax rate of 14.1% compares with a previous estimate of 15.4% for the year by his aides. | |
The campaign says it is also planning to release a letter from his accountants with a summary of his returns from 1989-2009, which it said would show he paid an effective average of 20.2% over the period. | |
Friday's release comes as Mr Romney seeks to shift the campaign's focus in recent days away from remarks he made at a private donor dinner. | |
In the video secretly recorded earlier this year, he disparages Obama voters, saying they pay no income tax. | |
Mr Romney's critics say he should follow the example of his father, former Michigan Governor George Romney, who released a dozen years of tax returns during his own unsuccessful run for president in 1968. | |
But the former Massachusetts governor has said he is following 2008 Republican White House candidate John McCain's example of releasing two years of taxes. | |
Mr Obama's 2011 tax return showed he paid an effective rate of 20.5%, on an income of $789,674. | |
As he released his 2010 return in January this year, Mr Romney said he had paid "all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more". |