Gingrich blasts Romney's income tax rate

WINNSBORO, S.C. -- Mitt Romney tried doggedly Wednesday to sidestep the political furor he had started a day earlier by revealing he pays federal taxes at a rate of about 15 percent, lower than the rate paid by millions of middle-income American families.

Newt Gingrich, his main rival in this weekend's South Carolina primary, poked at Romney anew and disclosed that his personal tax rate is more than double that of Romney.

Just before Saturday's South Carolina voting, Romney is trying to wrap up his push for the Republican nomination, but it's been anything but smooth.

He's spent nearly two weeks answering questions and criticism about his personal wealth and tenure at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, and those subjects are sure to come up again in tonight's debate.

Gingrich slapped at the GOP front-runner, saying in Winnsboro that he himself paid 31 percent of his income in taxes for 2010. Gingrich's campaign said the 31 percent was the effective federal rate on income, apparently not including Social Security payroll taxes.

Gingrich told reporters that he is not criticizing Romney for paying a tax rate below what many wage-earning Americans pay. Gingrich has proposed a plan that would give Americans the option of paying a flat tax of 15 percent -- which he notes is the same rate Romney is citing.

"My goal is not to raise Mitt Romney's taxes but to let everyone pay Romney's rate," Gingrich said.

The former Massachusetts governor made no mention of his tax returns or tax rate during a rally at Wofford College here and declined to take questions from the news media.

Instead, he delivered his standard campaign speech and assailed Gingrich, who has been running second in opinion polls in South Carolina.

Romney aides, too, refused to comment about his tax returns or details of his tax rate when pressed.

His campaign held a conference call featuring surrogates who tried to cast Gingrich, the former House speaker, as an unreliable leader, but the wealth and taxes issue showed no signs of going away.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has endorsed Romney, sought to help by defending Romney's tax status on TV. But that may have backfired when Christie, on NBC's "Today" show, suggested Romney put out his tax returns "sooner rather than later."

"It's always better in my view to have complete disclosure, especially when you're the front-runner," Christie said.

Romney has been consolidating GOP support before the South Carolina primary, in which a victory could all but seal his nomination.