Can't Win

So, after months of Democrats whining and cat calls for Mitt Romney to release more tax returns he did. But talk about damned if you do or damned if you don't, here was something that the Financial Times printed. I don't think they were being critical per se, but you know the Dems will repeat it. Malt writes a blog and manages Romney's finances.

The Republican’s 2011 tax return showed that the candidate – and his wife, Ann – paid $1.9m in taxes on $13.7m in income, derived mostly from investments. That put their effective tax rate at 14.1 per cent, according to a blog post by Brad Malt, the trustee who manages Mr Romney’s wealth.

The Romneys donated $4m to charity last year, nearly 30 per cent of their income but claimed a tax deduction for only $2.25m of this, pushing the candidate’s effective tax rate higher.

“The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year,” Mr Malt wrote.

Under questioning about his taxes this year, Mr Romney had said he would not be qualified to be president if he paid more taxes than were required.

“I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due, I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president,” he told ABC News in July.

Mr Romney pays a relatively low rate because most of his income comes in the form of dividends and capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate then ordinary income.