The Democratic National Committee yesterday started a website, www.whatmittpays.com, that calls attention to the 15 percent tax rate -- far less than the top 35 percent rate the wealthiest Americans owe on some of their income -- that executives at private-equity companies like Bain pay on their investment profits, known as "carried interest." Obama has proposed closing what critics call the "carried interest loophole," which also benefits hedge-fund managers.
"Want to know why Mitt Romney won't release his tax returns?," the Democrats' site says. "Well, one of the reasons is that he probably pays less taxes than you do."
After Romney made his latest comments, R.C. Hammond, a spokesman for Gingrich, contacted reporters unprompted to declare that if the former House speaker became the nominee, he planned to release his income tax returns.