Gov. Dannel P. Malloy blamed the media Monday for not convincing his Republican opponent Tom Foley to turn over his state tax returns.
Foley has allowed reporters to inspect the summary page of his federal tax returns for the past four years, but has declined to make the summary of his state tax returns available for inspection. Malloy has made available a summary of his federal returns and the first two pages of the summary of his state returns.
“To say to the people in the state of Connecticut I am running to be your governor, but I’m not going to release my state tax return is hubris. It’s unacceptable and he’s just trying to run out the clock,” Malloy said during a press conference following a tour of Penn Global in North Branford.
“What advantage does he get in denying the people of Connecticut knowledge about his financial circumstances,” Malloy added. “This is a guy who’s running for governor in large part saying I’m a businessman. I’m a successful businessman. I’ve made millions of dollars. He hasn’t made a cent in three years, hasn’t paid taxes, hasn’t paid an income tax to the federal government. I presume to the state government. But I don’t know. What other states is he paying taxes in?”
Malloy then chided the media for not getting the information out of Foley’s campaign.
“Listen, I’m not trying to do your job,” Malloy said. “If I refused to release my tax returns you’d be all over me.”
“And yet this guy says I’m not going to do it and everyone says okay,” he added. “We’re not going to push too hard.”
The Foley campaign refused to comment for a second consecutive day about whether their candidate would release his state tax returns.
Malloy also has not released his full tax returns, just the summaries, which don’t show deductions or calculations regarding charitable contributions.
Malloy explained that there’s little to show since most of the past few years he’s spent in public office where his salary is part of the public record.
Malloy ended the press conference with a deal: “You get Tom’s full return and I’ll release my full returns.”
Asked why he doesn’t release his first, Malloy said because he’s released his tax returns.
“I release what most people release,” Malloy said.
