Pritzkers release tax returns: Last year’s $18.5 million in taxable income more than triple previous year

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois first lady M.K. Pritzker reported earning more than $18.5 million in adjusted gross income last year — a hefty bump from the $5.1 million the billionaire couple reported in 2020.

Pritzker’s campaign on Friday released partial 2021 state and federal tax returns, which also show the Pritzkers paid $4,733,028 in federal taxes and $883,780 in state taxes.

They reported $18,509,268 in adjusted gross income on both tax summary sheets.

The Democratic governor’s campaign also said trusts benefiting Pritzker paid $14.6 million in Illinois taxes and $68.6 million in federal taxes in 2021. The Pritzkers made $1.07 million in personal charitable donations last year.

Pritzker’s personal taxable income has dropped since he’s entered public life, largely because of those trusts. Just before taking office, Pritzker placed the bulk of his investments into a “blind trust,” meaning he would still make money off the investments, but he would be removed from decision making and from managing his personal assets.

A Better Government Association investigation in February outlined what the BGA called “weaknesses” in the so-called blind trust, revealing that Northern Trust, appointed by Pritzker to independently manage his portfolio to avoid conflicts of interest, bought stock in Centene Corp., one of the state’s biggest Medicaid contractors in 2020. His campaign said Pritzker is not part of any of the blind trust’s decisions and isn’t being given information regarding his investments.

So far, Pritzker has pumped $110 million into his re-election campaign. In 2018, Pritzker broke records when he churned $171 million of his fortune into his 2018 bid to oust then Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, a battle that went down as one of the most expensive gubernatorial races in American history.

In 2017, Pritzker reported nearly $34.5 million 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%.

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The governor’s net worth as of Friday was $3.6 billion, according to Forbes, and increased by an estimated $400 million since he took office in 2019. Pritzker ranks 822 on Forbes’ 2022 list of the world’s billionaires.

Pritzker’s Republican challenger, state Sen. Darren Bailey, in September released summaries of his last five tax returns, which showed he endured major financial ups and downs on his downstate farm over the last five years, including two years of net losses.

In 2017, the Baileys reported $1,776 in adjusted gross income and no taxable income. Their adjusted gross income jumped to $211,108 in 2018. In 2019, the Baileys reported $189,029 in adjusted gross income. Of that, $111,599 was taxable. The next two years, the Baileys reported negative income on their tax returns.