Republican US presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought today to stay away from the issue of how much he pays in taxes a day after acknowledging that his income tax rate is about 15 per cent, but a key ally joined rivals' calls for him to release his tax returns.
During a campaign speech in Spartanburg, Mr Romney avoided mentioning the comment he made a day earlier that his income tax rate is "probably closer to 15 per cent than anything," making it lower than the rate paid by most wage-earning Americans.
The remark put Mr Romney, one of the wealthiest people to ever run for the White House, at the forefront of a national debate over the fairness of US income tax rates. Mr Romney is the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination to face president Barack Obama on November 6th.
Mr Romney's efforts to stay away from the issue took a hit earlier in the day when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a key ally of the former Massachusetts governor, urged him to release his income tax forms.
Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, two of Mr Romney's rivals for the Republican nomination, pressed him during a debate on Monday night to release his tax returns and have suggested he may be hiding something in not releasing the forms.
Mr Christie played down the notion that the forms would reveal much about Mr Romney, a former private equity executive at Bain Capital LLC with an estimated net worth of $270 million.
"Let's get all the facts out there. See what the tax returns say. And I think everybody will know that the story is probably much ado about nothing," Mr Christie told the MSNBC programme Morning Joe.
Mr Christie suggested that the attention being paid to Mr Romney's finances was mostly a political drama aimed at undermining the former Massachusetts governor in advance of Saturday's South Carolina primary, the third contest in the state-by-state battle for the Republican nomination.
Mr Christie, mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for Mr Romney, has been actively campaigning for him, making appearances in New Hampshire and Iowa, the first two states to hold nominating contests.
Reuters