Branstad says he earned $190,000 in 2011; paid $24,000 in taxes

DES MOINES -- Gov. Terry Branstad released his income tax returns Friday, showing he earned $190,472 last year and paid $24,088 in taxes.

In releasing the returns, the governor's aides noted his pay was less than half of what he earned as president of Des Moines University before being elected governor in 2010.

"His motivation is just to be extremely transparent," said Branstad's chief of staff, Jeff Boeyink, who met with reporters to discuss the returns.

Despite his income being less than what he was paid at the medical school job, Branstad still makes far more than most people in the state. But Boeyink said that didn't alter the decision to make the returns public.

"You always have to consider that," Boeyink said. "The governor is proud of the income he made. I don't begrudge him one dollar that he's made."

The biggest share of Branstad's income was the $116,131 salary he earned as governor. He also collected $52,954 from a pension for his initial four terms as governor.

Branstad paid $17,777 in federal taxes, $4,486 in Social Security taxes and $1,773 in Medicaid taxes.

He paid only $52 in state income taxes. He used federal deductibility, contributions to his grandchildren's college fund and investment losses to reduce his state income tax liability.

Branstad releases his tax returns annually. The annual salary for the governor is $130,000, but Branstad wasn't sworn into office until late January of last year, so he didn't get a full year's pay.

According to the tax returns, Branstad and his wife, Chris, made $25,458 in charitable contributions last year. While he didn't list those contributions, Boeyink said the biggest were to Living History Farms, Boone County Hospital, Des Moines University and various Catholic charities. Boeyink said those contributions amounted to about 13.4 percent of the governor's adjusted gross income.

Boeyink said the governor also lost money when he resigned from a series of corporate boards on which he served while being out of office.

Jamie Ward, Branstad's accountant, said the governor continues to collect money from the dozen rural buildings he owns around the state that are being rented and used as local Postal Service facilities. Income from those was $39,498, she said.

Boeyink said Branstad was able to take advantage of a feature of Iowa's tax code, allowing a deduction on state taxes for federal taxes paid. In the prior year while heading the medical school, Branstad paid $62,831 in federal taxes that he was able to deduct when calculating state tax liability.

In addition, the governor contributed $11,400 to college savings plans for his four grandchildren.

Branstad did suffer one investment setback, reporting a passive loss of $41,585 on his investment in Liberty Banshares, Iowa. Aides said they didn't know how much Branstad had invested in the company, but said he owns less than 1 percent of the bank's shares.

The tax returns also contained some good news for the governor. He'll be getting a refund of $14,306 from the federal government, and a refund of $9,924 from the state.