Gov. Pritzker and wife report earning $2.2 million in taxable income last year, paying $760,000 in state, federal taxes

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois first lady M.K. Pritzker reported earning a little over $5.1 million in adjusted gross income last year — but after deductions only about $2.2 million of it was taxable.

That’s according to partial 2020 state and federal tax returns released Friday by the first-term governor’s campaign staff.

A billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, the governor and his wife reported $5,143,972 in adjusted gross income last year. Of that, $2,201,946 of it was taxable. On their Illinois tax returns, the Pritzkers listed their total income after accounting for federally tax-exempt interest and other additions as $5,190,528.

The Pritzkers paid nearly $760,000 in taxes in 2020 — $230,643 to Illinois and $529,104 in federal taxes, according to documents released by Pritzker’s campaign.

The governor’s net worth is $3.6 billion, according to Forbes. As of Friday, the business magazine ranked Pritzker number 318 on its list of 400 wealthiest Americans for 2021.

Pritzker’s campaign said trusts benefiting Pritzker paid $16.3 million in Illinois taxes and $69.6 million in federal taxes in 2020. The governor and his wife reported making $2.8 million in personal charitable donations last year, his campaign said.

Pritzker’s personal taxable income has dropped since he’s entered public life, largely because of those trusts.

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%.

The following year, Pritzker pumped $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.

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.

But none of that has stopped him from investing in his own political future.

The first-term governor has already dumped $35 million into his campaign war chest, a March infusion he called a “preventative measure” to protect against Republican attacks.

That was months before Republican venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan entered the race in early September with $10,780,000 in contributions from out-of-town supporters. Republicans already running included state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia; businessman Gary Rabine; and former state Sen. Paul Schimpf of Waterloo.