Romney Appears to Have Engineered His Tax Rate

He made nearly $14 million for doing nothing -- all those Cayman Island and offshore investments -- and paid a 14% tax rate. He could have paid at a lower tax rate, but it appears he engineered his tax rate. View his returns here.

Mitt Romney will release his 2011 tax return at 3p.m. this afternoon, and the campaign says the documents will show he paid a 14.1 percent tax rate in 2011. He reported income of $13.7 million. Romney claimed a deduction of $2.25 million in charitable contributions, even though he made slightly more than $4 million in charitable donations. Reuters' Felix Salmon points out this kept Romney's tax rate above 13 percent. That's an curious decision, given that Romney said in a January Republican primary debate, "I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes." The Atlantic