Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has jumped on Mitt Romney’s lucrative career in the private sector as head of Bain Capital, a private equity group that paid Romney generously while closing companies and cuting thousands of jobs. But Romney’s high net worth — estimated to be in excess of $200 million — and his ongoing retirement from package from Bain — understood to pay Romney millions of dollars per year — has put new scrutiny on the former Massachusetts governor’s unwillingness to disclose his tax returns.

Last night, Newt Gingrich’s campaign sought to capitalize on Romney’s unwillingness to release tax returns and sent reporters the following email:

Just in case you were curious, Newt Gingrich plans to release his income tax returns if he is the GOP nominee.

The move by the Gingrich camp comes after multiple news organizations reported on the Romney campaigns unwillingness to release the returns. Yesterday, Romney told reporters, “We don’t have any current plans to release tax returns but never say never.” In an interview with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Romney went further:

Mr. Romney made the statement in an interview with MSNBC on Wednesday, but the network did not show that part of the interview. Mr. Romney, a multimillionaire who made his fortune running a private equity firm, was asked whether he planned to release his tax return.

“I doubt it,” Mr. Romney said, according to a transcript of the interview provided by NBC News. “I will provide all the financial info, which is an extraordinary pile of documents which show investments and so forth.”

“But you won’t do the tax returns?” asked Chuck Todd, host of “The Daily Rundown.”

“I don’t intend to release the tax returns. I don’t,” Mr. Romney responded.

Watch it:

In 1994, Romney challenged Sen. Ted Kennedy to disclose his state and federal taxes to prove he has “nothing to hide.”

Indeed, scrutiny on Romney’s tax returns lies in the fact that Romney is likely not paying normal income tax rates on the ongoing payments from Bain. He is likely paying a capital gains tax rate of 15 percent instead of an income tax rate which, in his bracket, would be 35 percent.

Romney’s unwillingness to release his tax returns, and the Gingrich camp’s efforts to capitalize on Romney’s secrecy, could pose a challenge as Romney continues his assault on Gingrich’s lobbying and business dealings.

The House is expected to pass the two-month payroll tax cut extension today, preventing taxes from increasing for millions of Americans on Jan. 1. The Senate approved the deal Friday morning. House Speaker John Boehner caved under the enormous pressure and dropped his opposition to the extension, telling reporters late Thursday that the House had reached a deal to pass the Senate’s two-month extension deal after minor modifications, according to the Washington Post:

The agreement resolved the last stalemate in a year of bitter congressional fighting that earned lawmakers their lowest approval ratings in recent memory.

In exchange for supporting the 60-day patch, Republicans secured minor face-saving concessions from Senate leaders, who had already passed a two-month deal on an overwhelming vote of 89 to 10. Senate leaders had balked at the House’s demand to restart talks over the holidays on a full-year extension of the tax cut.

The Senate agreed to make a technical change to the payroll tax reporting requirements, designed to lessen the burden on small businesses of implementing the two-month deal.

And Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) promised he would appoint a conference committee to take up negotiations after New Year’s Day on ways to pay for a full-year tax cut.

Both chambers will pass the plan by unanimous consent so long as no member shows up to voice opposition in person, which lets the deal pass even though most members have gone home. There was no opposition to the deal in the Senate Friday morning. The two-month extension gives House and Senate leaders time to negotiate for a yearlong extension after the holiday recess. “I am grateful that the voices of reason have prevailed,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said in a statement.

But so far, a few House freshmen have threatened to stop the deal. Freshman Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said he was “not yet sure” if he would protest the deal, and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) told CNN’s John King Thursday night, “I’m not so sure I’m not going to do that,” when asked if he’d drive to Washington, D.C. to stop the deal.

Boehner acknowledged the pressure he has felt, telling reporters Thursday that “I talked to enough members over the last 24 hours who say we don’t like the two-month extension and if you can get this fixed, why not do the right thing for the American people even if it’s not exactly what we want.”

Boehner received pressure from his own party — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called on the House to pass the two month extension yesterday — as well as the public. After the White House asked people to say what $40 — the average amount an American worker would lose per paycheck without the extension — would mean to them, thousands of people responded on Twitter using the #40dollars hashtag.