Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney made $42.7 million over the past two years and paid $6.2 million in taxes, newly released documents show.

Romney and his wife, Ann, filed a joint 1040 reporting $21.7 million in 2010 income and $3 million in federal taxes. They also said their 2011 income was $21 million and tax bill was $3.2 million. Over the two years, Romney's effective tax rate - the percentage of his income that he owed in federal income taxes - was just under 14%.

Nevertheless, and contrary to popular perception, Romney's effective federal income tax rate is still above that of many Americans - 80% of whom have an effective rate below 15%. That tax rate is higher when other federal taxes - such as the payroll tax - are included.

And there's nothing that gets people revved up like peering into someone else's taxes to learn more about their wealth, especially when they're running for office. So you know that people were abuzz this morning trying to dissect it all, that is, if they could wrap their heads around it.

It appears Romney and his campaign knew that too, and expected the onslaught. If you did a search on Twitter for "Romney Taxes" "Romney Tax Returns" or "Romney" you saw an interesting promoted tweet, meaning someone paid for that tweet to show up at the top of the heap.

And judging by the tweet, Romney's camp must have thought, if people are going to be searching around, we ought to offer a message.

For the most part, the conversation online seemed more focused on what Romney's overall taxes show about America, rather than the candidate himself.

Rick Newman, the chief business correspondent for US News & World Report, tweeted a statistic that seemed to characterize what others were thinking.

#Romney earns enough in one week to qualify for the 1 percent. yhoo.it/yEF9Jw #OWS —

Rick Newman (@rickjnewman) January 24, 2012

A majority of the comments we saw online showed that many folks, while they may have been a bit revolted by the mass amount of money Romney makes, found that more of the problem was our tax code or a major gap divide between the wealthy and middle class.

"Thanks to Occupy, rich-poor gap is front and center. See Mitt Romney's tax return.": bit.ly/yCELW1 —

Edward Virtually (@edwardvirtually) January 24, 2012

Yes, Romney donated to 17% to charity. But that isn't the point. Taxes help build roads, sustain schools, and support the vulnerable. —

Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) January 24, 2012

This isn't about Romney per se. He's simply a case study in wealth inequality. —

Marc Lamont Hill (@marclamonthill) January 24, 2012

It's not Romney's fault that he paid only 13.9% in taxes. But it does underscore all that's wrong about our tax code. —

Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) January 24, 2012

Others bemoaned the general fact that Romney didn't have to pay more, considering what they pay, even if it is all part of the current rules.

Aren't you all excited to have an effective tax rate higher than multi-millionare Mitt Romney? Me too! Let's party! —

Ross (@Cephster) January 24, 2012

But others thought that there wasn't any massive damage done by Romney releasing his tax returns, because they showed he also gave money to those who needed it, and simply followed our current rules.

The release of Romney's tax returns at this point will possibly only help him. he donated more to charity than he pd in taxes. that's a win —

Toni Watkins (@Toni_TWG) January 24, 2012

Things learned from Romney's tax return: 1. He's filthy rich. 2. He pays the legal tax rate. —

Jacob Rawlins (@jrawlinsisu) January 24, 2012

Some joked the release was well-timed because it came when people were paying more attention to Oscar nominations.

I'm not often vocal about politics but the reaction to Romney's tax returns is unbelievable. Welcome to America people. —

Drew Daniel (@AndrewCDaniel) January 24, 2012

Am I the only one who thinks Romney dumped his tax information this morning, hoping everyone would talk about the Oscars instead? —

Joe Hill (@joe_hill) January 24, 2012

It's a sad state of affairs when my twitter feed gives more attention to the Oscars than to Romney's tax return & the issues w/ US tax code —

Carli McKinney (@carlimck) January 24, 2012

But for others, there was also a continuing sentiment of wondering why we get all excited about these tax releases anyway.

am i the only one that doesnt care about the tax returns of presidential candidates? #campaignsarestupid —

G Slade (@g2slade) January 24, 2012

For some, knowing where the politics and money collide along the campaign trail was the more important monetary detail they'd prefer to learn.

I'm more interested in seeing where the millions of dollars to get elected goes than a candidates tax returns. —

Timothy Asher (@betthearm) January 24, 2012

What do you think? Does it still matter that we see candidate tax returns? And if so, what is your reaction to Romney's release. Let us know in the comments below.