Santorum: Romney's Tax Rate Isn't the Problem, His Perception of $300,000 Is

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney points towards the audience as former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum looks on before a Republican presidential candidate debate at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 8, 2012.

Updated: January 18, 2012 | 8:54 a.m.
January 18, 2012 | 7:37 a.m.

Rick Santorum doesn’t think its GOP front-runner Mitt Romney’s fault that he pays a lower tax rate than most middle-class Americans.

"This is a problem… not of Governor Romney’s doing,” Santorum said on Fox & Friends on Wednesday morning. “We have to have a tax code that’s flatter and simpler… it’s important for us to have a tax code that’s fair for everyone.”

Romney drew criticism when he acknowledged on Tuesday that his tax rate was around 15 percent, the same as billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

But Santorum did speak out against another Romney revelation: The former Massachusetts governor said he receives “speaker’s fees from time to time, but not very much.” The amount, however, turned out to be over $362,000 in one year, USA Today reported in August.

“To make a statement that I made a couple of extra bucks giving speeches when that couple of extra bucks was over $300,000—I mean, that to me says a little bit more about Governor Romney and his connection with the American people than his tax rate,” Santorum said.

Santorum has not joined his fellow GOP hopefuls in criticizing Romney for his work at private-equity firm Bain Capital.

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