Mitt Romney has released detailed information about his 2011 tax return.   According to Romney’s campaign, he paid $1.9 million in taxes on income of about $13.5 million or 14%  The reason for the lower tax rate is due to the fact most of his income is realized through investments which are taxed at a lower rate.  The Romneys also donated about $4 million or 30% to charity while only claiming $2.25 million in deductions.  All told, between taxes and charity, the Romney’s kept only about 55% of their earnings.  This is certainly reasonable and despite the fact there will always be those who despise him because he’s wealthy, I think he finally put this issue to bed.  The problem for Romney is he let it linger and fester too long.  He should have hit this head on long ago and moved on.  In addition to his 2011 tax return, Romney has also revealed, over a twenty-year period from 1990 to 2009 he paid an average of 20% in income tax.   And there was no year in which the Romney’s paid less than 13.66 percent.  He released this twenty year history as a result of Harry Reid’s claim, there were years that the Romney’s paid no taxes.  We now know that simply isn’t true and Harry Reid should apologize for making false accusations.  This issue has also been laid to rest but again, too late in the game.  I’m unsure as to who was advising Romney on the issue but he was given poor advice.  Donating thirty percent of your income is certainly admirable and could have been used in his favor.  So much like the birther issue, let’s once and for all close the book on the Romney finances and get down to the real issues of this campaign.