Romney ally calls for release of tax returns

A KEY ally of Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has joined his rivals in urging the candidate to release his income tax forms after he said he pays roughly a 15% tax rate.

“Let’s get all of the facts out there. See what the tax returns say,” New Jersey governor Chris Christie told MSNBC’s programme, Morning Joe, although he downplayed that the forms would reveal much and that all the attention would probably be “much ado about nothing”.

On Tuesday, Romney told reporters that most of his income stems from investments, placing him at the 15% rate — much lower than what most Americans pay. He has said he would not release his tax returns until April.