(Newser)
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Amid the buzz of his world travels, ABC brought Mitt Romney back to his old Achilles heel: taxes. Asked last night if he has ever paid less than the 13.9% rate he paid in 2010, Romney said he'd have to check his records. "I haven't calculated that,” Romney said in response to a question from David Muir on World News Tonight. “I’m happy to go back and look, but my view is I’ve paid all the taxes required by law. From time to time I’ve been audited as it happens, and the accounting firm which prepares my taxes has done a very thorough job to pay taxes as legally due,” he added. “I don’t pay more than are legally due. I know that I pay a very substantial amount."
Romney’s rate falls below that typically paid by American taxpayers with incomes close to the $20 million Romney and his wife made in the last two years because tax law now tends to favor investment income over wages, notes Reuters. Romney is under increasing pressure from the Democrats and the GOP to release his recent tax returns. He has only released his return for 2010, and an estimate for last year's taxes, for a total of $6.2 million in taxes on some $42.5 in income.
