Candidate Paid a 14% Effective Tax Rate for 2010 on $21.7 Million in Income
By BRODY MULLINS, PATRICK O'CONNOR and JOHN MCKINNONWASHINGTON—GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid a 14% effective income tax rate in 2010 after making $3 million in tax-deductible charitable donations and drawing most of his income from investments, according to a summary of Mr. Romney's 2010 tax form provided by his campaign.
Mr. Romney reported $21.7 million in income. He paid $3 million in federal taxes, slightly more than the $2.98 million he made in charitable donations. At least $1.5 million of his charitable donations went to the Mormon Church.
Of Mr. Romney's 2010 income, he noted a capital gain of $12.6 million, taxable interest of $3.3 million, ordinary dividends of $4.9 million and smaller sums of gains and losses on business income, refunds and other income.
His 2010 return also showed that he had a financial account in Switzerland that was closed in 2010 and that he generated income from overseas investments. He also reported financial accounts in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
Mr. Romney's campaign released his full tax filings for 2010 and an estimate for his 2011 taxes Tuesday. Late Monday, the campaign provided the Wall Street Journal with a preview of those forms.
In an estimate of his 2011 taxes, the Romney campaign said Mr. Romney would pay $3.23 million in federal tax on $20.9 million in total income. He said he would have itemized deductions of $5.7 million, including $4 million in charitable donations. About $2.6 million of the money that Mr. Romney gave to charity in 2011 went to the Mormon Church.
Democrats and Mr. Romney's GOP rivals have long called on the candidate to release his tax forms. During the Republican debate Monday night, after previously resisting, Mr. Romney said that he will make public two years of tax releases and no more. He said two years of forms "will satisfy the interest of the American people."
"I pay all the taxes that are legally required, not a dollar more," he said. "I'm proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes." His tax bill is significantly higher than the amount paid by most Americans.
The release of the tax information is unlikely to end a problem that has dogged Mr. Romney on the campaign trail. Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who used to advise Mr. Gingrich, said the Romney release puts him ahead of his rivals' disclosure, "so the number of years isn't the issue; the issue will be the sophisticated use of the existing tax code."
Mr. Romney, who would be one of the richest GOP nominees in history, has stumbled at times when he has tried to show sympathy for struggling Americans. He has joked about being unemployed and recently said he feared getting a pink slip early in his career. In his 2008 run for the nomination, the issue didn't register. Today, his rate has become a proxy for a broader debate about how to revamp the U.S. tax code.
Of Mr. Romney's $21.7 million in 2010 income, he noted a capital gain of $12.6 million, taxable interest of $3.3 million, ordinary dividends of $4.9 million and qualified dividends of $3.3 million. His 2010 tax return indicated he had a "bank account, security account or other financial account" in Switzerland. That account was closed in 2010, aides to Mr. Romney said. It was not clear whether Mr. Romney received any income in 2010 from the Swiss account.
He reported gross income from "various countries" of $1.5 million. He filed more than one Form 8621, which are used for interests in offshore corporations, and at least one Form 8865, for an interest in an offshore partnership.
Mr. Romney received about $500,000 in "author/speaking" fees, according to his tax filing.
The 2010 tax filing lists Mr. Romney's occupation as "executive" and his wife, Ann, is listed as a "homemaker." The address listed is in Belmont, Mass.
The former Massachusetts governor told reporters last week he pays a roughly 15% tax rate because most of his income results from investments, not a salary. The top rate on Income from long-term capital gains and dividends is typically is 15%, considerably less than the top rate of 35% levied on regular salary income.
That preferential rate for investment income, which was instituted as part of the Bush tax cuts to spur investment, is the basic reason why the Mr. Romney and his wife have an effective rate of around 15%.
On the stump, Mr. Romney talks frequently about providing certainty to middle-class families. He wants to eliminate taxes on dividends and capital gains for households that earn less than $200,000 a year.
The Romneys filed five forms in 2010 disclosing transactions relating to investment funds that could raise red flags with the IRS. The government requires taxpayers to report some transactions that have characteristics that might suggest the use of tax shelters, such as generation of a large loss. Not all transactions reported under this requirement are tax shelters.
A Romney spokesman said to his knowledge none of the transactions could "remotely be considered" tax shelters. The transactions were performed by third parties, not by the Romneys.
Mr. Romney is worth between $84.8 million and $264.7 million, according to a financial-disclosure form released by the Romney campaign last year when he entered the presidential campaign. Campaign aides have said the actual figure is near the higher end, between $190 million and $250 million.
Much of that wealth is held in tax-deferred individual retirement accounts. Typically, earnings generated inside IRAs aren't taxable until they're distributed.
An IRA allows investors to defer taxes. Income from the account, when eventually withdrawn, will be taxed at ordinary-income rate, not the lower capital-gains rate that might have applied if Mr. Romney had held the investments outside the fund.
Mr. Romney and his wife still have enough wealth outside their IRAs to generate large amounts of taxable income. Much of that income is from financial investments, including private-equity funds, and takes the form of capital gains and dividends, according to the financial-disclosure form.
Ann Romney, for example, recently held interests in 18 funds run by Bain Capital; several of those holdings were valued at more than $1 million each.
—Laura Saunders contributed to this article.Romney Advisers Defend Tax Returns
Advisers to Mitt Romney offered a detailed defense of the former Bain Capital executive’s tax returns on conference calls with reporters, saying that he paid “100% of what he owes,” and never engaged in “tax-motivated” or “aggressive” transactions.
- AFP/Getty Images
- Mitt Romney (L) and Newt Gingrich take the stage for the GOP presidential debate in Tampa, Fla., Jan. 23, 2012, Tampa, Florida. (Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images)
That likely won’t stop the questions about the Romneys’ complex returns for 2010 and 2011, which show that they paid an effective tax rate of around 14% for 2010 and a little over 15% for 2011. Those rates are typical of very wealthy people who receive a lot of their income from investments.
Some tax experts said they saw nothing on first glance that made the Romneys’ voluminous returns seem unusual, at least in comparison to those of other very wealthy families. But on the conference calls, advisers felt compelled to offer lengthy explanations of several items that seem sure to attract attention from the public, as well as Mr. Romney’s political rivals. Those include references to a now-closed Swiss bank account; a number of investments in tax-haven entities; and a handful of transactions that have characteristics that the IRS often scrutinizes for indications of inappropriate tax avoidance.
The man who runs the Romneys’ personal investments, Brad Malt, said it is “flatly wrong” to think that the Romneys use offshore entities to evade taxes. “Every dime of that … is reported on Gov. Romney’s tax return,” he said. “It is included in Gov. Romney’s return, fully taxed as if the [money] had been earned in the United States.”
In fact, most of the Romneys’ tax advantage is due to far less exotic factors. The main one is the fact that a huge chunk of their income is capital gains and dividends that are taxed relatively lightly under federal rules, at a 15% top rate. They particularly benefit from the lenient treatment of earnings that private-equity managers receive. Those earnings – known as carried interest – are taxed as capital gains, although many critics say they are basically wages and ought to be taxed as such, at the higher ordinary-income rates.
During a Tuesday morning conference call, Romney advisers suggested the candidate is willing to consider dropping the carried-interest advantage for private-equity managers, as part of broader fundamental tax reform. There are “a number of exemptions, deductions, credits, administrative treatment of income…that would be addressed in tax reform,” said Lanhee Chen, Gov. Romney’s policy director.
One thing the campaign isn’t considering is releasing returns other years. Ben Ginsberg, the campaign’s national counsel, noted during the 8:30 a.m. call that “there are 26 people from the Chicago area listening in,” suggesting that Obama campaign operatives were following along. “That sums up the state of play,” he added.
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