Romney says paid "a lot of taxes" every year
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney talks to two women after a campaign event in Golden, Colorado August 2, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Rick Wilking
LAS VEGAS |
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Under pressure to reveal more about his personal finances, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday said he had paid "a lot of taxes" every year.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid accused Romney on the Senate floor on Thursday of not paying taxes for 10 years, the strongest accusation yet by Democrats in a fight over the former private equity executive's tax records.
Romney strongly denied Reid's claim.
"Let me also say categorically: I have paid taxes every year. A lot of taxes. A lot of taxes," he said during a campaign stop in Las Vegas, in Reid's home state.
Romney said the sources of Reid's accusations may be within the White House or President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, which has frequently called on Romney to release more than the two years' worth of tax information that he has made public.
"By the way, Harry, I understand what you're trying to do here," Romney said. He accused the Reid of trying to deflect attention from discredited policies, and from the Senate's failure to pass a budget in three years.
Romney did not say which types of taxes he had paid, although financial information he released in January showed he had paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010 mostly from capital gains on investments. That is far below the 35 percent top tax rate for wages.
On Thursday, Romney told Reid "to put up or shut up."
The former Massachusetts governor's denial comes as he looks to move on from a shaky trip abroad last week and return to talking about Obama's record on the economy.
Romney faced questions on Friday about the tax plan he would attempt to implement should he win election in November. He said that he had no intentions of increasing Americans' tax burden.
"My plan is very clear," he said. "I will not raise taxes on the American people."
Romney also refuted the notion that the richest taxpayers would benefit disproportionately from his plan.
"Higher income people are not going to pay a smaller share if I'm president," he said.
Romney's appearance in Nevada comes the day after campaigning in Colorado, where he tried to regain his footing after a trip to Britain, Israel and Poland that was seen as unsuccessful.
(Reporting by Sam Youngman; Writing by Gabriel Debenedetti; Editing by Alistair Bell and Vicki Allen)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Regardless of what Mitt Romney paid in taxes, fewer people are paying the taxes they want to because fewer people have income to tax in the first place. Our primary focus should be on getting those people back to work, not what some rich guy did or didn’t do. When/if Mitt Romney does release his returns, we all know that then the Democrats won’t even care about it and will probably be all ho hum, like it doesn’t even matter. They will find something else to ride him about instead. More people would be able to pay more taxes if there were more jobs. Where are all the jobs that were promised by our President when he was a Senator running for office? Do we reward this same President who failed to get the Nation back on it’s feet with another term, or do we put the one person in the office who has the best chance of making real economic progress, and with a Congress who will actually work with him? Mitt Romney has the best chance of turning our economy around. This rhetoric about his taxes will get worked out and is really a sideshow distraction from the real issue of jobs. Jobs.
2) Mr. Romney’s accusation that the White House “leaked” his IRS filings to Reid is an admission that Reid’s claims are true.
3) It would make no difference to most Republicans and Democrats, but where he is now, Mr. Romney needs to publish a substantial number of years of returns to convince independents.
Follow Reuters