Tax return summaries released Friday by Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Foley show he has experienced wide swings in income.
In documents provided to journalists for review, Foley, a wealthy Greenwich businessman, reported slightly more than $1 million in adjusted gross income for the 2010 tax year. That dropped to negative $65,705 in 2011 and rose to $20,462 in 2012. Returns were not available for 2013 because Foley's limited-liability company filed for an extension, his campaign said.
Foley released the same two pages of information that Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy provided earlier this month.
Neither candidate has released any information about his itemized deductions, such as charitable giving.
Much of Foley's income appears to be from investments, trusts, interest-bearing accounts and capital gains. He cited minimal income from Stevens Aviation, a South Carolina business he bought in 1989. He earned $41,388 in 2010, $8,162 in 2011 and $6,636 in 2012.
Foley spent more than $10 million of his money during his first race against Malloy. This year, Malloy and his campaign have used Foley's wealth as a point of criticism, saying he's out of touch with everyday voters.
Malloy recently took issue with Foley's remarks accusing the governor of pushing people out of their cars and into public transit.
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Malloy said Foley doesn't understand the needs of people who ride buses.
The Malloy campaign also has taken issue with Foley's record as a business owner.
"Tom Foley made tens of millions of dollars hurting middle-class working families. Now we find out he paid a zero percent effective tax rate for 2011 and 2012. Tom Foley's tax rate for the last two years would even make Mitt Romney blush," said Malloy campaign spokesman Mark Bergman, referring to the wealthy former Republican presidential candidate, who paid a 14.1 percent effective tax rate in 2011.
In 2010, Foley paid $287,981 in taxes, which his campaign said is a 31 percent tax rate.
But in 2011, Foley's records show his $2.8 million in capital gains was offset by about $2.8 million worth of investment losses. No details were provided to reporters. Foley's adjusted gross income was ultimately negative $65,705 after paying his first wife $77,440 in alimony. In 2012, Foley suffered a $60,637 investment loss.
Foley files separately from his current wife, Leslie Fahrenkopf Foley.
Records show Foley paid his first wife alimony payments worth $76,295 in 2010, $77,440 in 2011 and $79,128 in 2012.
The joint returns for Malloy and his wife, Catherine Malloy, show they earned a total of $305,534 in 2013 and paid $66,092 in taxes. They paid a rate of 25.2 percent for their federal taxes and a rate of 5.5 percent for their state taxes.
Malloy earns $150,000 a year as the governor.
