Billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his wife reported $5.5 million in taxable income — about $28.9 million less than the family reported last year.
Even so, Pritzker — an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune — is No. 250 on this year’s Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $3.4 billion.
In the returns released Tuesday, J.B. (Jay Robert) Pritzker and his wife, M.K. (Mary Kathryn) Pritzker reported $5,550,583 in taxable income last year and paid federal taxes at a rate of $33.99%. The Pritzkers paid $215,885 in state income taxes and $2,049,182 in federal taxes.
The Pritzkers also made $464,000 in personal charitable donations last year, according to Pritzker’s campaign.
And trusts benefitting Pritzker paid an additional $5.3 million in Illinois taxes at a rate of 6.45% and $29 million in federal taxes, the campaign said.
In 2017 Pritzker reported $34,439,798 in taxable income and paid $15.6 million in taxes — $14.8 million to the federal government and $811,816 to the state — at a rate of 36.2 percent. Pritzker’s campaign then noted his state taxes were lower because “JB paid more in income taxes in other states.”
Just as he did last year, Pritzker only released some of his tax information — not the full return, which would also include schedules filed to claim exemptions and donations other than those to their own charitable organizations. Releasing tax returns isn’t required for candidates or elected officials but is longstanding common practice in Illinois.
Pritzker’s campaign in November 2017 released a tax return that showed $14.95 million in adjusted gross income for 2016 — having paid a federal tax rate of 27.7%. He reported $9.9 million in income jointly in 2015 and $3.13 million jointly in 2014.
Pritzker placed his investments into a “blind trust” just before taking office, as he had vowed to do during the election. The step means that Pritzker will still make money off those investments during his term. But he’ll be removed from decision making and from managing his personal assets.
While the move isn’t a true blind trust, which includes relinquishing ownership control over assets, Pritzker’s staff claims the procedure “goes further” than what former Gov. Bruce Rauner did.
Rauner and Pritzker’s “blind trust procedures” are very similar, except Pritzker has given a company control over his assets, instead of one adviser as power of attorney.
Pritzker will “receive enough information to enable him to provide the requisite information as well as to allow him to continue to disclose tax information,” the statement said.
As for his family trusts, Pritzker can’t change or end those trusts. A memo regarding his “blind trust” says he is a “beneficiary of several domestic and foreign trusts.”
