Buttigieg releases 10 years of tax returns

Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg on Tuesday released his tax returns, following similar moves by his rivals as they seek to distinguish themselves from President Trump, who has come under scrutiny for his personal finances.

Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., and a rising star in the crowded Democratic primary field, released 10 years of tax returns — from 2009 to 2018 — on his campaign website. 

{mosads}”Mayor Pete has always played by the rules,” Buttigieg’s campaign said in an email. “He’s paid his fair share, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of investments, which means no conflicts of interest or corporate boards. And unlike the current president, he doesn’t have anything to hide.”

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are the other presidential candidates to recently disclose their personal finances publicly. 

Other candidates who have released their tax returns are Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), as well as former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D).

The candidates are releasing their tax returns in order to contrast themselves with Trump, who in 2016 became the first major-party nominee in decades to not make any of his tax returns public.

Trump has said he won’t release his tax returns while under audit, though the IRS has said that nothing prevents people from releasing their own tax information.

Buttigieg’s 2018 tax return shows that he and his husband, Chasten, had adjusted gross income of $152,643, and had total taxes of $20,136, for an effective tax rate of 13.2 percent. They claimed the standard deduction of $24,000.

The couple’s 2018 adjusted gross income is about the same as Booker’s adjusted gross income for 2018, and lower than the income reported on the 2018 returns of every other Democratic presidential candidate. Booker, who is unmarried, reported significantly less income in 2018 than he had in prior years when he had income from his book.

Buttigieg and his husband got married in 2018, so the most recent tax return is the first they filed jointly.

In 2017, Buttigieg had adjusted gross income of $133,565 — including income from his mayoral salary and from writing — and total tax of $28,830. He claimed $11,542 in itemized deductions, including $765 in charitable donations.

All of the tax returns Buttigieg released show adjusted gross income of under $200,000 for the year, and in several of the years he reported adjusted gross income of under $100,000.

In 2014, when he did not collect his mayoral salary while serving in Afghanistan, Buttigieg had adjusted gross income of $46,150. In 2011, when he first ran for mayor of South Bend, he had adjusted gross income of $7,115.

“As you can see, Pete’s not a millionaire,” the Buttigieg campaign said. “He’s not funding this campaign through personal wealth, corporate PACs, or D.C. lobbyists. He’s running this campaign the same way he’s run his life — by being fair and decent.”

Updated at 3:36 p.m.