Embarrassed Santorum admits to paying twice the tax rate of...

Embarrassed Santorum admits to paying twice the tax rate of rival Romney

Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum attempted to draw a contrast between himself and Republican rival Mitt Romney when his campaign released four years of tax returns Wednesday night. The move appears to have backfired, however.

The documents show Santorum and his wife, Karen, earned more than $3.5 million from 2007 through 2010, but paid more than one-quarter of their earnings back in taxes. The most they paid in taxes was in 2010, when they earned $923,411 and paid an effective tax rate of over 28 percent.

Romney's 2010 tax returns show the former Massachusetts governor and wife Ann earned $27 million and paid a tax rate of just 13.9 percent.

"Santorum's ridiculous rate of 28 percent shows us a wealthy man incapable of manipulating a tax code designed by wealthy men to be manipulated by wealthy men," said a Romney campaign staffer. "Someone so unimaginative should never sit in the Oval Office."

Santorum says he is not proud of his tax rate, but thought it might help his campaign. "I was was wrong, clearly. Hopefully, this won't derail our recent momentum."

Originally, Santorum sought to use his tax information to play up the blue-collar background he pretends to have while on the campaign trail. Instead, he finds himself on the defensive.

"I don't understand what I did wrong," said Santorum. "I'm a white male millionaire just like everyone else, yet here I am paying taxes at the same rate as school teachers and factory workers. It's shameful and I do apologize."

Santorum added that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to show his face down at the golf course this Spring. "I'll probably get teased pretty bad by the other kids," he said. "Maybe I'll take up bowling. My handlers tell me that bowling is a blue-collar activity."

sources: one :: two