President Barack Obama’s campaign vowed Friday that if Mitt Romney releases five years of tax returns the campaign would stop criticizing him for not releasing more. Mitt Romney's campaign chief Matt Rhoades quickly shot down the offer. The proposed deal came in a letter from Obama campaign manager Jim Messina to his counterpart in Romney’s campaign, pressing the tax return issue one day after Romney said he had “never paid less than 13 percent on taxes.” Rhoades wrote that it was "clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending." Romney has until now only released his tax returns from 2010, which showed a 14 percent effective tax rate. He has said he plans to also disclose his 2011 return.
