Mitt appears to have paid far LESS in taxes in 2009.

Is that because he earned far less, or did he have a similar income but paid at a much lower rate?

Two years of tax releases is not enough.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/inside-the-romney-tax-returns/?hp

While he did not release his 2009 tax returns, there is a hint of much Mr. Romney and his wife paid in taxes that year.

The 2010 return shows the Romney's made estimated tax payments that year of $1,369,095. (He then paid a lot more when he sought an extension of the April 15 filing deadline.)

To avoid penalties, estimated tax payments must be at least 110 percent of the taxes owed the prior year. Assuming that is what he paid, his tax bill for 2009 would have been $1,244,632.

There is no easy way to estimate his reported income from that figure. The 2009 income presumably included large amounts of dividends, taxed at a 15 percent rate, and of interest income, taxed at full marginal rates. And of course we have no way of knowing how large other deductions, such as for charitable contributions, were in that year.