Jeb Bush releases 33 years of tax returns

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush released more than three decades of tax returns Tuesday as part of an effort to cast himself as the most transparent candidate running for president.

Mr. Bush posted the years of returns on his jeb2016.com and months after he put out a cache of more than 200,000 emails from his time as governor.

“Today, I’m releasing 33 years of tax returns — more than any presidential candidate in history,” Mr. Bush said in a post, which also include a bar chart driving home the point.

The Associated Press reported that the returns showed that the 62-year-old made $7.4 million in 2013 and has paid back an average income tax rate of 36 percent since 1981 — putting him in the top 1 percent of taxpayers, according to figures from the Congressional Budget Office. The average taxation paid by middle-income households in that time was 16.6 percent.

The move aimed to provide a stark contrast with former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who has faced strong criticism on transparency issues related to her use of a private email account and server while at the State Department.

Mrs. Clinton has provided about 30,000 emails, but had said she tossed away another 32,000 she deemed weren’t government business, and then wiped the server. A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the State Department release her emails on a rolling basis.

Mr. Bush’s decision also set him apart from the GOP’s two previous presidential nominees, Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who released two years of tax returns.

Former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is the only other candidate this year to go beyond the law’s requirements by putting out a lengthy financial disclosure that showed her family’s net worth is $59 million.

The Bush camp told news outlets that their boss net worth is upwards of $22 million. They also noted that then-Sen Bob Dole of Kansas released 30 years of his tax history during his 1996 presidential campaign and then-Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts released 20 years of his finances in 2004.

Mr. Bush’s father, Gorge H.W. Bush, offered up 14 years ahead of his successful 1988 bid.

“Today’s release comes in the same spirit because most of my adult life has been spent in the private sector – not in government,” Mr. Bush said. “This release will show voters how I earned a living over the past three decades and how much of that living I had to give back to Uncle Sam. (Spoiler Alert: A LOT).”