Romney screws up, and heading to become new poster boy for 15% rate. Says he: The $374,327 I reported earning in speaking fees last year was "not very much."

We all know -- let's say that the great majority of Americans who are not elected officials serving in Washington recognize -- that solving the deficit is going to require tax increases along with decreasing expenditures, including entitlement reform.  This self-inflicted wound by Romney is going to assist on the tax issue.

From The New York Times:

[Romey's] effective tax rate was “probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything,” Mr. Romney said at a campaign stop in South Carolina, noting that most of his considerable income over the last decade has come from investments rather than from earned income like salary. He also characterized as “not very much” the $374,327 he reported earning in speaking fees last year, though that sum would, by itself, very nearly catapult most American families into the top 1 percent of the country’s earners.

As a candidate, Mr. Romney has also advocated for tax policies that would significantly benefit people who, like him, derive most of their income from investments.

Assuming Congress does not act to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, the rate for capital gains income is set to return to 20 percent for the 2013 tax year, while the rate for dividend income will jump to 39.6 percent. But in his economic plan, Mr. Romney calls for making permanent the Bush-era tax cuts on capital gains and dividend income, keeping them both at the current rate of 15 percent.

See also discussion of rates in The Wall Street Journal.