2012 GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has no love for the Obama administration’s proposed “Buffett rule,” which seeks to ensure that the wealthy can’t pay lower taxes than the middle-class. “Class warfare like some members of the administration want to do is simply the wrong way to go,” Romney said on Fox News.
Part of Romney’s problem in opposing the Buffett rule is that it likely applies to him. An analysis of publicly available data by Citizens for Tax Justice found that Romney’s tax rate is likely 14 percent, far below the statutory rate for someone who earns as much as he does. Seeing Romney’s full tax return could provide a more complete picture of his tax situation, but so far, he hasn’t committed to releasing it:
The financial disclosure forms Romney filed during his 2008 presidential run showed the former Massachusetts governor was worth as much $250 million at the time. But Romney has never released any tax returns — neither during his campaigns for president and Senate nor during his time as governor — and would not commit to doing so this time around.