Former IRS Commissioner Gives Blessing to Mitt Romney’s Taxes

Former Massachusetts Governor and Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has released his tax return for 2010 and an estimate for 2011.

The returns showed that Romney and his wife Ann paid about $3 million in taxes on adjusted gross income of $21.646 million in 2010, an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent. In 2011, he estimated he would pay about $3.2 million on $21.7 million, an effective tax rate of 15.4 percent. Much of Romney’s income derived from profits, dividends and interest on investments. Romney claimed nearly $3 million in charitable contributions in 2010 and over $4 million in 2011, including contributions to the Mormon Church. Investments included a Bain Capital fund based offshore in the Cayman Islands, and a Swiss bank account that the trustee in charge of his blind trust closed down in 2010.

The release of the tax returns came after Romney came under increasing pressure from his fellow candidates. So far, he has not agreed to release tax returns going back further than 2010. The Romney campaign posted a statement by former IRS Commissioner Fred Goldberg saying Romney and his wife had “fully satisfied their responsibilities.”

“I have reviewed Governor and Mrs. Romney’s joint tax return for 2010, including returns for the Ann and Mitt Romney Family Trust, the Ann D. Romney Blind Trust, and the W. Mitt Romney Blind Trust,” said Goldberg. “I have also reviewed the return in process for 2011. These returns reflect the complexity of our tax laws and the types of investment activity that I would anticipate for persons in their circumstances. There is no indication or suggestion of any tax-motivated or aggressive tax planning activities. In my judgment, they have fully satisfied their responsibilities as taxpayers. They have done so by relying on a highly reputable return preparer and other advisors, who have in turn relied primarily on information provided by third parties to them and to the IRS. The end result of that process has been returns that include a multitude of schedules, IRS forms and accompanying statements that provide appropriate transparency and the proper payment of taxes that Governor and Mrs. Romney owe under current law.”

 

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