Romney attacks Gingrich, releases tax info

TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Almost all the $42.6 million Mitt Romney made the past two years was from investment profits, dividends or interest, his U.S. tax return and an estimate showed.

None of the income -- $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million estimated for 2011 -- came from wages, the return and estimate, first reported by The Washington Post, indicated. Romney will likely pay $6.2 million on the income, The New York Times reported, but it calculated his two-year income at $45 million.

Romney said last week his effective rate was "about 15 percent," a figure lower than that of many affluent Americans. But his returns suggested he paid an effective tax rate of just under 14 percent, the Times said.

Romney, a Mormon, and his wife, Ann, gave away $7 million in charitable contributions over the two years, including at least $4.1 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his return and estimate showed.

Romney's family is one of the Mormon church's most prominent members.

"I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more," Romney said during a Republican presidential debate in Tampa Monday night. "I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes."

During the debate, at the University of South Florida, Romney called rival Newt Gingrich an "influence peddler" who had to "resign in disgrace" from the House of Representatives.

"I think [the election is] about leadership," Romney said. "And the speaker was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party in 1994. And at the end of four years, he had to resign in disgrace.

"In the 15 years after he left the speakership, the speaker has been working as an influence peddler in Washington. And during those 15 years, I helped turn around the Olympics, helped begin a very successful turnaround in the state of Massachusetts," he said.

Eighty-four ethics charges were filed against Gingrich during his 1995-1999 term as speaker. After an extensive investigation and negotiation by the House Ethics Committee, Gingrich was reprimanded and fined $300,000 by a 395-28 House vote. It was the first time the House ever disciplined a speaker for ethical wrongdoing.

Most of the charges were later dropped. One not dropped was a charge of claiming tax-exempt status for a college course run for political purposes.

Gingrich, who swept into Florida after a commanding victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday, painted Romney's attacks as desperate and replete with inaccuracies.

"I'm not going to spend the evening trying to chase Gov. Romney's misinformation," Gingrich said. "I think the American public deserves a discussion about how to beat Barack Obama."

He said voters in November were not "sending somebody to Washington to manage the decay -- they're sending somebody to Washington to change it, and that requires somebody who's prepared to be controversial when necessary."

Romney seized on Gingrich's release of one of his consulting contracts with the government-sponsored mortgage lender Freddie Mac just hours before the debate.

He said it showed Gingrich reported to its chief lobbyist, while "Freddie Mac was costing the people of Florida millions upon millions of dollars" in the subprime mortgage crisis.

Gingrich reiterated his assertion he was not a registered lobbyist. Regarding Romney's charges, he said, "There's a point in this process where it gets unnecessarily personal and nasty, and that's sad."

When Romney kept pressing Gingrich, alleging some members of Congress claimed Gingrich lobbied them, Gingrich interrupted.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! You just jumped a long way over there, friend," he said, calling Romney's charges unfair.

"The American people see through it," Gingrich said.

Candidates Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were relegated to supporting roles as the front-runners sparred.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, repeated his message he's the consistent conservative who can defeat Obama.

He warned that on key issues such as healthcare and energy policy, "There is no difference between President Obama and these two gentlemen."

He assailed his opponents for supporting the 2008 bank bailouts, which Santorum opposed.

Paul, a Texas congressman, participated in the debate but is largely bypassing the Jan. 31 Florida primary due to its high TV advertising cost.

He declined to rule out a possible third-party campaign if he doesn't receive the Republican nomination.