Mitt Romney pays even less tax than previously thought, records reveal After having his Iowa caucus win overturned and losing South Carolina to Newt Gingrich, Mr Romney has been overtaken in Florida polls by the former House Speaker. Having led here by 18.5 percentage points on Saturday, Mr Romney now trails Mr Gingrich by 7.4 points, according to a RealClearPolitics average. Polls indicate that Mr Romney's support has been badly damaged by attacks on his work as the head of Bain Capital in the 1980s. About half of white voters earning under $50,000 (£32,000) now view Mr Romney negatively, according to an ABC News/Washington Post survey, compared to 29 per cent a fortnight ago. Mr Romney previously insisted he would not release his tax returns until April, but was pressured into releasing them yesterday amid the criticism of his work at the private equity firm Bain Capital. Mr Gingrich claims the company "looted" the firms it took over, leaving "thousands of lives" destroyed in relentless pursuit of profit. The records show that Mr Romney greatly benefits from the fact that America's relatively low 15 per cent rate of capital gains tax (CGT) applies to so-called "carried interest" - the share of profits on past deals that private equity and hedge fund executives receive as a bonus. After two lacklustre debate performances that contributed to his South Carolina loss, Mr Romney went on the attack in Tampa on Monday night, aggressively accusing Mr Gingrich of being an "influence peddler" forced to "resign in disgrace" after two decades as a Washington insider. Mr Gingrich was paid $25,000 (£16,050) a month to work as a "consultant" for Freddie Mac, the government-backed mortgage lender that became key to the US housing market crash, and had to be bailed out by taxpayers for tens of billions of dollars. Mr Romney accuses him of contributing to the crisis by lobbying Congressmen to loosen regulations on who the organisation could lend to. "Freddie Mac was paying Speaker Gingrich $1.6 million at the same time Freddie Mac was costing the people of Florida millions upon millions of dollars," he said. Despite his contract stating that he reported to Freddie Mac's chief lobbyist, Mr Gingrich denies lobbying and says he was employed "as a historian." He also came under pressure from Mr Romney over the last time he "was given an opportunity to be the leader of our party," when he became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1994. Mr Gingrich's aides highlighted yesterday that he and his wife Callista paid 31.6 per cent on income of $3.16 million (£2 million) in 2010 - more than twice the Romneys' rate. Mr Obama and his wife Michelle paid 26 per cent tax on income of $1.8 million (£1.2 million) in 2010. Mr Romney's top lawyer, Ben Ginsberg, said he had "paid 100 percent of what he owes." "Governor Romney earned his wealth as a highly successful businessman," said Mr Ginsberg. His success has created wealth for his family and jobs for around 100,000 Americans.