Phil Murphy Reported $4.6 Million in Income Last Year, Paid 32% in Taxes

Less than a week before New Jersey voters go to the polls to select their next governor, Democratic nominee Phil Murphy released a federal tax return document showing reported adjusted gross income of more than $4.6 million last year.

Mr. Murphy, a former Goldman Sachs executive whose income was derived mostly from capital gains and dividend payments, owed $1.1 million to Uncle Sam, according to the 1040 income tax return distributed Thursday by his campaign.

According to a summary provided by the campaign of his income, taxes and charitable donations dating back to 2010, Mr. Murphy and his wife paid nearly $1.5 million in combined federal and New Jersey state taxes last year, an effective tax rate of about 32%.

Mr. Murphy didn't release his state tax returns or the documentation from his federal tax return that shows details about deductions, dividends and interest income. His campaign said the information would be available for reporters to view Friday. Mr. Murphy made his full 2015 federal tax return available to reporters in the same manner.

The disclosure wasn't enough for Mr. Murphy's Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who has called on Mr. Murphy to post his tax returns online and release his client list from his years at Goldman Sachs.

A spokesman for Ms. Guadagno called Thursday's release "a complete farce" and said Mr. Murphy should disclose his complete tax return online immediately.

"He hasn't released thousands of pages of his tax returns, which would disclose his world-wide investments, $1.8 million in itemized deductions and other detailed information about his massive fortune," the spokesman said in an email. "He's clearly playing games and hiding something by giving the press no time to scrutinize his finances before Election Day."

Mr. Murphy lent his primary campaign more than $16 million. He is using public financing for the general election.

A spokesman for Mr. Murphy's campaign said the candidate "is proud to make transparency a key component of his campaign, which is why he released his tax returns, a seven-year tax summary, and is granting reporters access to the full backup documentation."

Mr. Murphy, who spent more than two decades at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has run on a progressive platform that calls for stricter regulations of Wall Street and supports divesting state pension funds from hedge funds and private equity. Ms. Guadagno, who has served with outgoing Gov. Chris Christie since 2010, has pledged to lower property taxes in her first term if elected.

As lieutenant governor, Ms. Guadagno has posted her tax returns online for the past eight years. She and her husband, a recently retired family court judge, reported just over $300,000 in adjusted gross income last year and paid about $66,000 in federal taxes and $15,000 in state taxes.

The summary released by Mr. Murphy's campaign shows annual adjusted gross income ranging from a low of $2.7 million in 2011 to a high of $7.3 million in 2015. Mr. Murphy and his wife have also given to charity through both personal contributions and distributions from their philanthropic foundation, with annual totals ranging from about $500,000 to $1.6 million, according to the summary.

Write to Kate King at Kate.King@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 02, 2017 18:35 ET (22:35 GMT)