Mitt Romney (photo, Gage Skidmore / Wikipedia)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose estimated net worth is $190-250 million, has made  public more than 500 pages of tax records after losing the South Carolina primary over the weekend to Newt Gingrich, who accused the former financial investment manager of not coming clean about his wealth. It is the first-ever disclosure by Romney, even though he earlier served as governor of Massachusetts.

Media reaction today in the US to details of the Romney fortune and the couple’s tax record mentions financial accounts in the Cayman Islands and in Switzerland, but focuses on the fact that he is one of the wealthiest candidates ever for the top US office. The Caucas, a New York Times blog, notes that “The Wall Street Journal and financial wire services showed a vast array of investments from a recently closed Swiss Bank account to holdings in Bermuda to the Cayman Islands, all underscoring the breadth and depth of his wealth.”

The disclosure and debate over it are part of growing evidence that a hot presidential campaign topic will be fiscal reform and the disparity between what the rich and other people pay in taxes.

State of the Union address Tuesday night may focus on economic inequality

President Barack Obama will give his State of the Union speech tonight and, according to CBS News, “Economic inequality is emerging as a central theme in the battle for the White House, with Obama trying to harness populist anger at Wall Street and corporations against a backdrop of chronically high unemployment. He plans to call for higher taxes on millionaires in his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday night, embracing an idea advanced by billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Occupy Wall Street protesters.”

Media references to the Swiss bank account are generally limited to implying that it is an indication of his wealth and noting that it was closed at the suggestion of political advisors. CBS News reports that “in a conference call with reporters, Brad Malt, Romney’s trustee, called the Swiss account ‘fully legal, fully disclosed’ but said it was closed in early 2010. He added: ‘The income earned on that account is taxed just as any other domestic or other bank account owned by the blind trust.’”

The news channel goes on to note that “pages and pages are devoted to foreign entities in which Romney is invested. Many are located in places like Luxembourg, Ireland and the Cayman Islands, all famous tax havens. None shows much income.”

Reuters, in an article widely picked up, writes 24 January, that “the emerging picture was of a man of great means who contributes mightily to charity. The documents showed he and his wife contributed $7 million in charity over the two years, much of it going to his Mormon church. That represents more than 15 percent of the Romneys’ income for those years”, more than the tax rate paid by the Romneys, with an

“effective tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010. They expect to pay a 15.4 percent rate when they file their returns for 2011.

“Romney’s tax rate is below that of most wage-earning Americans because most of his income, as outlined in more than 500 pages of tax documents, flows from capital gains on investments.

“Under the US tax code, capital gains are taxed at 15 percent, compared with a top tax rate of 35 percent for wage earners.”

Obama and his wife paid 26.4 percent of their income in taxes last year.

Warren Buffett, in a television show Monday, said Congress and not Romney is to blame for the lower tax rate. “‘He makes money the way I do,’” said the popular Nebraska investor, cited by The State Column.

“‘He makes money by moving around big bucks, not by straining his back and going to work,’ said Mr Buffet Monday. ‘Nothing wrong about him doing that. I do not fault him for that in the least, but I do fault the law that allows him and me, earning enormous sums to pay over all federal taxes at a rate that is about half what the average person in my office pays.’”

The Washington Post writes that “Mitt Romney offered a partial snapshot of his vast personal fortune late Monday, disclosing income of $21.7 million in 2010 and $20.9 million last year — virtually all of it profits, dividends or interest from investments. None came from wages, the primary source of income for most Americans. Instead, Romney and his wife, Ann, collected millions in capital gains from a profusion of investments, as well as stock dividends and interest payments.”

The Los Angeles Times notes that “Romney’s taxes were first reported early Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, which received advance copies of the candidate’s return.”

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