Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke releases 10 years of tax returns

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Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke on Monday released 10 years of his tax returns, with the most recent filing showing that he and his wife earned more than $360,000 in income.

Encompassing 2008 through 2017, the hundreds of pages of returns show that the former Texas congressman and his wife, Amy, had a total annual income of more than $330,000 from 2015 to 2017. His effective tax rate for 2017 was 22%.

In 2008, their joint income was around $280,000.

In a statement, O’Rourke’s campaign said it would be making his 2018 tax returns public “as soon as possible after they are filed.”

In 2017, the O’Rourkes paid about $81,000 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of nearly $366,500. The couple did not give much of their income to charity, donating only about $1,200 in 2017 and less than $900 each in 2016 and 2015.

O’Rourke joins Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and several other high-profile Democrats vying for their party’s 2020 presidential nomination in releasing years of past tax information. That’s in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has bucked longtime presidential tradition and declined to make his tax filings public.

Sanders’ release of 10 years of tax returns confirmed that his income crossed the $1 million threshold in 2016 and 2017.

O’Rourke’s father-in-law is a well-known developer in his native El Paso, Texas, and O’Rourke’s past financial disclosure records filed during his three terms in the House had previously showed that he and his wife had sold real estate and other assets worth more than $1 million.

That meant the onetime punk rocker was actually wealthier than Sen. Ted Cruz, the Republican he challenged in deeply conservative Texas and nearly upset in November.

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