Gov. Ned Lamont’s campaign released three years of his tax returns Thursday at an office building in Hartford as the legislature was debating two high-profile labor bills.
Reporters were allowed to view the summary of the tax filings for 2018, 2019, and 2020 for twenty minutes. They were not given access to the full tax returns, including the various schedules which would have shown the gains and losses in capital gains. Lamont declined the $150,000 salary that comes with the position of governor so he had no earned income.
Lamont, who is the great-grandson of former J. P. Morgan & Co. chair Thomas W. Lamont, is married to Ann Huntress Lamont and files his taxes separately from his wife. The first lady, a founder and managing partner at Oak HC/FT, is likely much wealthier than her husband, according to state Ethics filing.
The summary of the tax returns show that Lamont’s adjusted gross income was almost $26 million over the last three years. All of the money came from investment income, which is held in what is essentially a blind trust. That means Lamont does not know what companies he’s invested in and does not make decisions about those investments.
The taxes also show he paid about $7.4 million state and federal taxes.
In terms of taxes paid, in 2018 Lamont paid $1,838,517 in federal income tax and $569,401 in state income tax; in 2019 he paid $2,263,796 in federal and $736,462 in state taxes; in 2020 he paid $1,462,323 in federal and $567,755 in state taxes.
He also made about $3.1 million in charitable donations. The campaign released a list of organizations he donated to, but did not include the amounts.
“Releasing his tax returns, as he did in 2018, is about being transparent with Connecticut residents; they show that he has both paid substantial taxes and made meaningful charitable contributions each year during his first term in office,” Jake Lewis, communications director for the campaign, said. “We look forward to Bob Stefanowski releasing his returns, releasing the list of clients he retained since his last run for governor, and showing the world what he earned while leading a payday loan company.”
In 2018, Lamont released five years of a summary of his tax returns.
Bob Stefanowski, the Republican who is seeking a rematch against Lamont, said the release of the tax filings Thursday lacked transparency.
“The Governor released a one-page summary of his income taxes. There is no itemization, no disclosure, and nothing to report Mrs. Lamont making millions from taxpayer-funded COVID contracts. His attempt at transparency is laughable,” Stefanowski said.
Stefanowski is referring to the contract for COVID testing that the state entered into during the pandemic with Sema 4. The contract has since ended and the Lamont’s say they had no input into awarding the contract. Mrs. Lamont’s private equity firm invested in the company.
Mrs. Lamont has said she didn’t earn any profit from the investment.
The governor’s assets are independently managed without his knowledge or involvement, in a manner the state Ethics Office confirmed is “a functional equivalent to a blind trust.”
As far as the release of tax returns, a common practice these days in campaigns, “Rather than doing this twice, my wife and I are going to release our joint return all at once and include 2021,” Stefanowski said. “On behalf of the taxpayers, I implore the governor to come clean on how much money his family has profited off Connecticut taxpayers.”
In 2018, Stefanowski released two years of his tax returns and not the five that Lamont released that year.
The filings, which were no more than Lamont shared Thursday, showed that Stefanowski and his wife earned about $16.5 million in 2016 and 2017 and paid about $6.68 million in federal and state taxes. The filings at the time did not include a list of charitable donations.