Paul Ryan Releases Two Years of Tax Returns - East Idaho News
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Paul Ryan Releases Two Years of Tax Returns

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150148483?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1345254238989Win McNamee/Getty Images(ARLINGTON, Va.) — Paul Ryan released two years of his tax returns Friday, revealing that he paid a higher tax rate than his running mate, Mitt Romney.

The returns show that Ryan and his wife, Janna, paid an effective tax rate of 15.9 percent in 2010 and an effective rate of 20 percent in 2011.

Those rates equal $34,233 of taxes in 2010 on an income of $215, 417 and $64,764 on an income of $323,416  in 2011. In tax returns released in January, Mitt Romney reported an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent on $21.7 million in income in 2010 and 15.4 percent on $20.9 million in 2011.  His 2011 return was only an estimate; the campaign says it will release the final return at some point before the election. The Friday evening release comes just days after the Obama campaign called on Romney to release more returns. The Romney campaign responded saying it would not.

According to financial disclosures released to Congress before Ryan joined the GOP ticket, Romney has assets worth between $2 million and $7.7 million.

Slightly more than half of the Ryans’ income in the two years released came from Rep. Ryan’s congressional salary. The rest of their earnings came from real estate, royalties, a family trust and other sources.

One item originally left out of Ryans’ tax returns, but added as an amendment, was a trust valued at between $1 million and $5 million left to his wife after her mother, Prudence Little, died in 2010. They paid a $59 penalty for underestimating their taxes.

“The required K-1 form from the Prudence Little Living Trust had not been received by the filing deadlines for the PFD and the tax return, and therefore was omitted on the originally-filed documents. When the K-1 form was later received, the omission was realized and corrected,” said Ryan spokesperson Brendan Buck.

Like the Romneys, the Ryans gave a portion of their income to charity, donating $12,991 in 2011 and $2,600 in 2010.

On Saturday Ryan campaigns with his 78-year-old mother in the largest retirement community in the world, The Villages, in central Florida. He will focus on Medicare, an issue that since Ryan’s selection has become a defining one of the campaign.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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