Americans still haven’t seen President Donald Trump’s tax returns, but his refusal to release them has prompted his Democratic challengers to get a jump on making theirs public.
So what do we know about them that we don’t know about Trump? Plenty.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the democratic socialist who’s vaulted himself into millionaire status with his books, still prepares his returns himself with his wife, Jane, while Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has a high-end accounting firm prepare her returns, annotated with statements and prepared with year over year comparisons.
Sanders also took a very on-brand $6,000 tax credit for installing solar panels and an efficient water heater in his home in 2016, as did Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren – who earned $234 for installing energy efficient insulation in 2013.
CNN reviewed the tax returns of 2020 Democratic candidates who polled above 2% in the most recent poll and have released returns. (Vice President Joe Biden has not yet released his tax returns.)
Here’s what the returns tell us.
Income
California Sen. Kamala Harris is the group’s high earner, thanks in part to her 2014 marriage to entertainment lawyer Douglas Emhoff. But Harris’ 2018 adjusted gross income of $1.9 million, was also boosted by the $730,000 she earned last year for two books released in January. She paid an effective tax rate of 37% on her income in 2018, the highest by far of these candidates.
But all the candidates are relatively well off, even South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who with his husband Chasten had an adjusted gross income of $152,643 last year and paid an effective tax rate of 13%. His income was lowest of anyone in the field, but more than double the US median income of $61,372.
Charitable giving
Warren had the most consistent record of giving, donating more than 2% of her adjusted gross income every year for the past decade, according to her returns. That topped out at 9% in 2017 when she donated $82,000 to charity.
But New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker beat everyone. In 2013, he maxed out the charitable deduction by giving 50% of his income to New Jersey charities, including $131,525 in cash and $131,502 in stock.
O’Rourke’s paltry giving has drawn criticism in light of his considerable income. There was only one year in the past decade that he contributed more than 1% of his income – though he’s said he gave money that he didn’t claim on his taxes, and also that he gives his time. His favored beneficiaries are organizations focused primarily in his hometown of El Paso.
Writing
Warren earned the most from writing in the past five years, earning $2.8 million from her work, including the best-seller “A Fighting Chance,” as well as on going royalties from writing academic textbooks.
Sanders’s book made him a, perhaps reluctant, millionaire catapulting his adjusted gross income from $240,610 in 2015 to $1.1 million in 2016.
While Booker did well with writing – earning $1.3 million in the past ten years – he ultimately earned more from speaking in the past decade, reporting $1.7 million from speeches since 2009.
