* Romney paid at least 13 pct tax rate over 20 years
* Stands firm in refusing to release earlier returns
* Says he paid taxes annually over 20 years
WASHINGTON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Republican presidential
candidate Mitt Romney fought back on Friday against Democrats'
claims that he paid no taxes in some years, releasing a letter
from his accountants saying he paid an effective federal tax
rate of at least 13.6 percent annually over 20 years.
Despite heavy political pressure, Romney stood firm in
refusing to make those returns public, but followed through on
an earlier promise to release his 2011 return. It showed he paid
$1.9 million in taxes on more than $13 million in income - an
effective tax rate of 14.1 percent.
That is a lower rate than most American wage-earners pay
because Romney gets most of his income from investment profits,
dividends and interest. Those earnings are taxed at a lower rate
than wages, which are taxed at a top rate of 35 percent.
President Barack Obama, Romney's foe in the Nov. 6 election,
paid a rate of 20.5 percent in 2011, and Romney's vice
presidential running mate Paul Ryan paid an effective rate of 20
percent last year.
Romney's release of a 20-year summary of his annual returns
came in response to allegations from Senate Democratic leader
Harry Reid and others that Romney might have avoided paying
taxes at all in some of those years.
But the release did not ease criticism of Romney for his
refusal to let the public see tax returns for the years before
2010. The Obama campaign said his use of overseas tax havens in
jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands was another sign that
Romney plays by tax rules that favor the rich and powerful, and
enjoys benefits that are not available to most Americans.
"Why does Mitt Romney not just release the full returns,
instead of the bare summary he has provided of the last 20
years, so voters can make their own judgments about Mitt
Romney's finances?" asked Stephanie Cutter, Obama's deputy
campaign manager.
Romney has steadfastly refused to release the returns,
breaking a longstanding presidential campaign tradition. He said
earlier this year it would just give Democrats "hundreds or
thousands of more pages to pick through, distort and lie about."
Romney also was criticized for taking less than the full
write-off for his charitable donations in 2011, an unusual move
designed to keep his effective tax rate above the 13 percent
minimum that Romney said in August he had paid each year.
Without the move, Romney would only have paid an effective
tax rate of about 10.5 percent, David Kautter of American
University's Kogod Tax Center estimated.
But the maneuver was political embarrassing for a candidate
who said earlier this year that he did not pay more taxes than
were legally due and if he did "I don't think I'd be qualified
to become president."
Reid said in a statement the move raised questions about
Romney's other tax dealings.
'WHAT ELSE WAS MANIPULATED?'
"Mitt Romney manipulated one of the only two years of tax
returns he's seen fit to show the American people - and then
only to 'conform' with his public statements," Reid said. "That
raises the question: What else in those returns has Romney
manipulated?"
The release of the information on Friday afternoon,
traditionally a time when politicians make public information
they hope will not attract heavy news coverage, came after a
brutal week for Romney's presidential campaign.
A secretly recorded video released earlier in the week
showed Romney denigrating the 47 percent of Americans who would
back Obama "no matter what" as government-dependent victims who
pay no taxes. That followed Romney's widely criticized response
last week to attacks on U.S. compounds in Libya and Egypt.
Romney has fallen slightly behind Obama in polls in the race
for the White House, with a series of three high-stakes debates
between the two scheduled in October.
In January, Romney released his 2010 return, which showed he
paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent, and had promised to
release his 2011 return before the election.
His campaign said the 2011 return was released on Friday
because that was when it was filed. Romney had sought an
extension earlier in the year on the mid-April filing deadline.
The 2011 return showed Romney donated about $4 million to
charity in 2011, amounting to nearly 30 percent of his income,
including at least $1.1 million given to the Mormon Church to
which they belong, but Romney took a deduction of only about
$2.25 million.
Romney has refused to release returns from his years as head
of Bain Capital, a private equity fund that Democratic critics
have charged plundered companies and cut jobs in a quest for
profits.
One of the wealthiest Americans to ever seek the White
House, Romney has an estimated net worth between $190 million
and $250 million.
The Romney campaign published a statement on Friday from
former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Fred Goldberg, who
declared the returns "reflect the complexity of our laws and the
types of investment activity that I would anticipate for persons
in their circumstances."
Goldberg said, "In my judgment, they have fully satisfied
their responsibilities as taxpayers."
The letter from accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers said the
average of Romney's annual effective federal personal income tax
rate during the 20-year period up to 2009 was 20.2 percent, and
he and his wife, Ann, had a charitable deduction rate of 13.45
percent.
The 20-year summary of his taxes said he owed both state and
federal income taxes in each year between 1990 and 2009.
The campaign also released a letter from Romney's doctor
noting he was in excellent health, but occasionally needed to
use an inhaler to ease an obstruction in his airways.