U.S. presidential candidate Romney releases tax returns

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid 1.94 million dollars in taxes in 2011, his campaign announced on Friday as an attempt to dispel speculations amid the hot campaign issue.

Romney and his wife Ann reported last year's income of 13.7 million dollars, most of which was from investment, and they paid 1.94 million dollars in federal taxes, said the Romney campaign. The couple's effective tax rate is 14.1 percent, slightly up from the 13.9 percent of 2010.

Brad Walt, the trustee of the couple's blind trust, also noted that Romney paid an average effective federal tax rate of 20.2 percent for the 20 years prior 2010.

The Obama campaign has been pushing multimillionaire Romney to release more of his prior tax returns on the campaign trail. In response, the Romney campaign vowed earlier that Romney would file his tax returns before the 2012 election. By then, the campaign estimated that Romney earned about 21 million dollars last year with the tax liability at 3.2 million dollars.

In April, the White House released tax returns of President Barack Obama and the first lady Michelle, which reported an adjusted gross income of 789,674 dollars for last year and paid 162,074 dollars in taxes. Obama's effective federal income tax rate is 20.5 percent. Obama, who has released his tax information for 12 years, also urged the challenger Romney to do the same.

Romney, who has released his 2010 tax return and promised to release his full 2011 tax return, also balked at the idea to release more tax returns from previous years. His refusal to disclose tax returns has emerged as a campaign issue during the 2012 presidential campaign season.

The Obama campaign and the Democrats have been trying to discredit Romney as a presidential candidate, describing him as a rich businessman who is out of touch with common citizens and is expected to push forward policies in favor of the wealthiers. Some Democrats also suggested that Romney, former head of the private equity firm Bain Capital, may have exploited the tax loopholes.

Romney's income was 21.7 million U.S. dollars in 2010, with his personal wealth being estimated to be between 85 million and 264 million dollars. Enditem