Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Corbett Releases Tax Returns, Asks Dems To Do So

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett today publicly released an additional five years of tax returns, bringing his total of publicly disclosed tax returns to ten years. He is now calling on the Democratic candidates for governor to do the same. In making the request, the campaign made note of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party officials with a track record of supporting the release of tax returns over an extended period of time. Additionally, the Corbett campaign has called on the Wolf campaign to release his corporate tax returns for the past ten years.

“I have released my tax returns to the public going back to 2004, because I believe that the people of Pennsylvania deserve to know the long-term financial interests of those seeking to serve as their governor,” stated Governor Tom Corbett. “Candidate disclosure of tax returns is an issue that has been supported in the past by both Democrats and Republicans across Pennsylvania, so I hope that my opponents for governor will join me in the spirit of total transparency in providing a long-term snapshot of their financial interests.”

Campaign Manager Mike Barley added, “Additionally, our campaign joins our opponent’s call for Secretary Tom Wolf to publicly disclose his personal and corporate tax returns. Clearly, he has run his campaign on his experience leading the Wolf Organization and there are many questions regarding the multi-million dollar loan he took out to finance his campaign. Pennsylvanians deserve openness and full transparency from those running for public office and it’s time for Wolf to stop hiding.”

In February, Wolf expressed his willingness to release his personal and corporate tax returns, stating at the WHYY Newsworks and the Philadelphia Business Journal 2014 Gubernatorial Forum, “I’ll share whatever people like you want me to share, my personal tax returns, and the company information.” He also added, “I’ll be happy to share whatever anybody wants to see, that’s been my practice throughout my business career.”

Support for the long-term release of tax returns has been widely supported by Pennsylvania Democratic Party officials in recent years. Most recently, Pennsylvania Democratic Chairman Jim Burn; former Governor Ed Rendell; Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter; Philadelphia Comptroller Alan Butkovitz, and a handful of other Pennsylvania mayors have exhibited strong support of this practice.

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