Mitt Romney disclosed today that his his effective tax rate is "probably closer to the 15% rate than anything."

Are you surprised? I'm not, for two reasons.

First, most of his income comes from investments, the gains from which are taxed at the capital gains rate of 15% ... or less.

Second, he has substantial deductions, including (I assume) charitable deductions in excess of 10% of his income. After all, Mormons tithe. And we typically make contributions to the poor and to other causes on top of that 10% contribution. If you would like to lower your taxes in this way, start here.

Both the capital gains rate and the possibility of a cap on charitable deductions have been on the table in recent efforts at tax reform, and I suspect Romney's tax return will light a fire under both issues during the election. 

UPDATE: The Obamas paid taxes at a rate of 25.3%, and 13.6% of their 2010 income went toward charitable contributions. See here. More on tax rates from that story:

Roughly half of households—mostly lower-income—pay no income tax, although many still pay payroll taxes. The average income-tax rate for the middle slice of households—those making between $34,300 and $50,000—was 3.3% for 2007, according to Congressional Budget Office data based in part on actual returns. That estimate includes the effects of various breaks, such as the per-child credit and the mortgage-interest deduction. Average income-tax rates rose to 14.4% for the top fifth, and to 19% for the top 1%, before dropping slightly for the very highest earners, who tend to have a larger percentage of their income from investments.

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