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Mitt Romney never has coughed up his tax returns. But Tuesday, he he pays 鈥渃loser to the 15 percent rate than anything.鈥�

鈥淲hat鈥檚 the effective rate I鈥檝e been paying? It鈥檚 probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything,鈥� Romney said. 鈥淏ecause my last 10 years, I鈥檝e 鈥� my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speaker鈥檚 fees from time to time, but not very much.鈥�

Romney to describe why and when he鈥檇 release his tax returns in South Carolina during Monday night's debate before offering a little more light Tuesday. What鈥檚 striking is that Romney didn鈥檛 release his tax returns when he was a candidate for governor of Massachusetts, nor during his governorship, nor during the 2008 campaign.

In fact, Romney has only faintly committed to releasing one year of his tax returns, meaning any (possible) financial hijinks from the past won鈥檛 go in front of the public鈥檚 eyes. Still, attack lines from Newt Gingrich and others saying Romney is holding out on South Carolina voters by holding off such disclosure until March or April don鈥檛 ring true when compared to past campaigns - as Yahoo鈥檚 , both 2004 and 2008 saw most of the candidates release their tax returns around the same window Romney cited in his debate answer.

So Decoder wanted to know: What are other politicians paying in taxes?

In 2010, Barack Obama paid nearly half a million dollars - $453,770 - from total income of $1,795,614, for an effective tax rate of 25 percent. , in case you鈥檙e interested in looking it over.

(If you鈥檙e prone to geeking out over such things, there are quite a few interesting tidbits about Obama鈥檚 life in his tax return. For example, the Obamas鈥� most favored charity was the Fisher House Foundation, a group that gives free or low-cost housing to veterans receiving treatment at medical centers. The Obamas donated more than $130,000 to the cause.)

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has , paid 23.4 percent of his $217,000 to the federal government in .

Why is Romney鈥檚 rate lower? Much of his wealth comes from investment income - far more than your average presidential candidate when you compare to, say, . Because dividends are taxed at 15 percent, even someone as megawealthy as Mitt Romney (estimated net worth: $270 million) can pay taxes far below the US鈥� top marginal tax rate of 35 percent.

Herman Cain鈥檚 , for what its worth, shows a lot about wealth but less about tax rates.

Want to check out your favorite candidates financial disclosure form? See them all from OpenSecrets.org . (Spoiler: Ron Paul owns lots and lots and lots of stock in gold miners.)

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