Paul D. Ryan releases tax returns
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Paul D. Ryanreleased two years of his tax returns Friday, days after the Obama campaign called on Mitt Romney to release three more years of his records.
The records reveal that Ryan and his wife, Janna, paid a higher effective tax rate than his Republican running mate and his wife, Ann. The Ryans paid an effective tax rate of 15.9% in 2010, or $34,233 of taxes on $215,417. They paid an effective rate of 20% in 2011 -- $64,764 of taxes on $323,416 of income.
Ryan’s tax returns can be found here, along with Romney’s.
When released in January, Romney’s returns revealed that he and Ann reported $40 million in income in the last two years. He paid an effective tax rate of 13.9% in 2010 on $21.7 million in income, and expected to pay an effective tax rate of 15.4% on $20.9 million in income in 2011.
“I will not apologize for having been successful,” Romney said during a debate in Tampa, Fla., earlier this year.
Ryan has assets worth between $2 million and $7.7 million, according to financial disclosures released to Congress.
Indeed, the tax return shows that less than half of the Ryan family’s income in 2011 came from his $153,359 congressional salary. The rest came from real estate investments, trusts and royalties, including property in Oklahoma.
In 2011, the Ryans reported capital gains from investments in Verizon Communications and Bank of New York Mellon. The family earned $17,400 in ordinary dividends from investments in T Rowe Price and Ryan Limited Partnership, among others.
That same year, the Ryans paid a $59 penalty for underestimating their taxes. They did not initially list income from the Prudence Little Living Trust in their return. The Prudence Little Living Trust was founded in 2010 when Janna Ryan’s mother, Prudence Little, died, according to financial disclosure forms.
“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,” said spokesman Brendan Buck in a statement. “When the K-1 form was later received, the omission was realized and corrected.”
In 2010, the Ryans made $39,013 from real estate and other royalties, $3,135 in capital gains and $14,628 in ordinary dividends.
The Ryans’ 2011 income puts them in the top 3% of Americans, according to a calculator on the Wall Street Journal website. Income over $506,000 puts individuals in the 1% that has aroused the ire of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
The tax releases come after a fervent week of campaigning for Ryan, who was tapped as Romney’s running mate last Saturday. He’s visited Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa and Wisconsin, and has been well-received by crowds of Republican voters.
The campaign motorcade has been met in some places with protesters, who often focus on Romney’s wealth. Romney has come under fire in both the primary and the general election for refusing to release more than two years of tax returns.
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