Eliot Spitzer’s reluctance to release his tax returns wouldn’t be as big a deal if he hadn’t been so critical of Mitt Romney for not wanting to release his. But that hypocrisy was pointed out loudly enough that on Wednesday, the comptroller candidate decided to release some of his taxes, just like Romney eventually decided to do. Spitzer made public his two-page 1040 federal form only, which his opponent, Borough President Scott Stringer, called a “non-disclosure disclosure.” As things stand, Romney revealed information that Spitzer did not.
Specifically, Romney’s taxes showed his $7 million in charitable donations, including $4.1 million to the Mormon church. Spitzer’s 1040 doesn’t show his charitable giving, state and local taxes, nor the specific sources of his income, plus some other information such as mortgage and significant medical expenses, if any, Huffington Post reports.
But Spitzer did file a financial disclosure report with the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board that showed his income came mostly from five buildings he owned, which brought in $500,000 each. He earned $100,000 to $250,000 for working as an executive overseeing his family’s properties, and his side business as a media personality isn’t doing too bad either, primarily because he’s still getting paid for that canceled CNN show. Per The Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Spitzer received more than $500,000 from CNN as part of his contract on a show that was cancelled. He also earned between $60,000 and $100,000 for paid speeches, between $5,000 and $44,000 for appearing on NY1 and between $1,000 and $5,000 for contributions to Slate, an online publication, the report said.
There’s a lesson in here about what branch of media one might enter in order to make lots of money, but we’ll just leave it be.
