Political Wire: “Mitt Romney was asked by ABC News if there was ever any year when he paid lower than a 13.9% effective tax rate as his 2010 tax returns show.

“Said Romney: ‘I haven’t calculated that. I’m happy to go back and look but my view is I’ve paid all the taxes required by law. From time to time I’ve been audited as happens I think to other citizens as well and the accounting firm which prepares my taxes has done a very thorough and complete job pay taxes as legally due. I don’t pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don’t think I’d be qualified to become president. I’d think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires.’”

The bottomline is: we get a $3,700 deduction for each child / dependent. The Romneys get a $77,000 deduction for a horse. That’s the tax code (written by politicians) — and now Mitt Romney, the GOP, and the one percent think $77,000 isn’t enough. They want to pay even less in taxes than they’re currently paying, which is already at an historic low.

Don’t forget this week the GOP-led House is trying to fast-track a bill that will give millionaires an average of $187,000 in tax cuts, paid for by eliminating deductions working and middle class families depend on. Also remember that Democrats and President Obama would like to extend the Bush tax cuts to Americans earning $250,000 or less, but the Republican Party is threatening to let all tax cuts expire for every income if the wealthy aren’t included in the extension.

If you’d like to contact your Representative about the Republican plan to make things even worse for working and middle class families, here’s the website: http://house.gov/representatives/

And let’s remind Mitt Romney that we still do want to see more of his tax returns. He’s got to come home and face this issue someday.