After long stretched months of questioning and accusational pressure, on Sept. 21, the Romney camp finally released his short form tax return for public scrutiny, showing there is not much to scrutinize.

His final 2011 tax return documented an income earning of $13,696,961 of which he paid $1,935,708 in taxes totaling a respectable 14.1 percent tax rate. The documentation provided suggested he did not claim all of his charitable donations. Both sides dispute whether he was generous or did not pay enough. Either way, his taxes do fall within legal obligation, no more no less.

So how do the two candidates compare? Obama’s tax rate was six percent higher, raking in a 20 percent tax rate. However, the Romneys donated over two percent more of their income to charity than the Obama’s. Conclusively, neither candidate is really outreaching the other in this battle. 

Mitt Romney’s not so reserved wealth has been a hot topic of both praise and critique for the entire race to the white house. He has been both revered as a shrewd businessman as well as accused of shady economic tactics.

So the big question of the political hour remained, what does Mitt Romney’s tax returns look like? Is he strategically hiding his wealth overseas? Does he support over overseas jobs?
And the most important question, does he pay his fair share? All of these accusations have been constantly circulating the Romney camp.

The mounted pressure for an official tax release has been mounted not only from Democratic supporters but from his own fellow primary candidates. Ron Paul even said he would be ‘embarrassed’ to put his taxes next to Romney’s, implicating that his taxes would never come close to resemblance.

The Democrats even waged an appeasable offer towards the Romney campaign. Obama’s campaign manager requested that Romney release his tax returns for the past five years, in exchange for the omission of all negative ads against the Romney campaign.

At that point in time, Romney’s campaign manager declined the offer without second thought. But Romney eventually disclosed his previous year tax returns, addressing critics unapologetically.
“I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more,” Romney said. “I don’t think you want someone as a candidate who pays more than he owes.”