Billionaire Tom Steyer's tax returns reveal massive fortune
Billionaire activist and 2020 contender Tom Steyer and his wife Kat Taylor released 10 years’ worth of tax returns on Thursday, showing just how much income the former investor is raking in.
The returns show that the couple earned nearly $1 billion in taxable income between 2009 and 2017, including $109.5 million in 2017.
During those nine years, they earned $1.2 billion in total income.
“Tom is releasing his tax returns now because he believes in providing transparency at all levels of government which includes elected officials,” Steyer campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in a statement. “The documents he is releasing also provide voters with an understanding of his role in the private sector, which he has since left behind seven years ago to work for the public good.”
Between 2009 and 2017, Steyer and his wife paid $405.3 million in federal and state taxes, with an average effective federal and state tax rate of 40.5 percent, according to his campaign. The pair live in California.
Steyer and Taylor made more than $190 million worth of charitable contributions.
As previously reported by FOX Business, Steyer has spent millions of dollars advocating for President Trump’s impeachment.
Steyer ran a hedge fund, Farallon Capital, for nearly three decades – he left the firm in 2012. He was a prominent donor to the Democratic Party during the 2016 election cycle.
American environmentalist Tom Steyer speaks at the Netroots Nation annual conference for political progressives in Atlanta, August 12, 2017. REUTERS/Christopher Aluka Berry
Forbes had estimated Steyer’s net worth at $1.6 billion – which is significantly higher than other party front-runners, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Sanders drew criticism earlier this year after releasing his tax returns, which showed his adjusted gross income exceeded $1 million. Sanders’s campaign has taken on the greed of the wealthy, though his reported income put him in that category.
Where his campaign is concerned, Steyer has spent $12 million on digital and television ads in just six weeks, as reported by The New York Times. That is more than any other 2020 Democratic candidate has spent all year.
Steyer did not meet the qualifications for the third Democratic debate, which will be hosted by ABC and Univision next month. He is on track to qualify for the October debate.
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